fava beans

I can't seem to get enough of fava beans this year. I grew a little bed of them just for us, thinking it would be enough but it wasn't and this morning I took off running to the Farmer's Market to get some more.....yet another delicious and nutritious seasonal garden treat. One of my favourite ways to prepare fava beans is in a simple salady mixture like the one above.....

ingredients: fava beans (planted in late February), tumbler cherry tomatoes (from the hanging baskets in the glass greenhouse), basil (that I'm growing in a low poly-tunnel this year), nasturtium flowers and leaves (that self-sow every year)(and these in yellow is the best, visually, in the bowl or on the plate, I mean) ....all chopped up together and mixed with a little olive oil, lemon juice and feta cheese....and of course, some whole nasturtium flowers and leaves to decorate, sometimes I add garlic....simple, fast, delicious summertime food!

This is my little circle bed of fava beans, red russian kale, purple and white alyssum, and a trailing nasturtium plant, end of May. I think this could look quite nice in an urban front yard. There were 21 plants here and they produced enough beans for 4 meals for 2 people....8 big servings.

I sure hope I remember next year to plant the sweet pea flower "Mary Lou Heard" where I plant my Windsor Broad Beans because it'll look so beautifully purpley with the purple and white alyssum I outline the growing bed with and it goes so well climbing along the branches I stick in the ground to support the bean plants....and the fragrance! The bugs love them and I love being able to cut a few for my house too....

Almost ready to harvest! This year, I planted these....and next year, I'll plant them again. I want to try these next year too because the red flowers sound pretty. I love edibles that are also ornamental!

Oh Oh. This doesn't look good. Fava bean plants are quite susceptible to aphid infestations on their tips and I've read that it's a good idea to pinch the tips off when this begins to happen....but I didn't...and....

....it started getting really nasty...but luckily, only on 2 of the plants.

So I still got a nice healthy harvest from my little bed of favas.

The beans look so lovely all nestled in their soft cushy pod. First step is to remove them from it...

Each individual bean has a kind of tough and often bitter outer shell that also needs to be removed to finally get to the tender bright green bean inside. Some folks eat them without removing this outer skin but they need to be quite young for that to be tasty. All this bean shelling is quite time-consuming but really worth it, once in a while....

Here they are, after removed from pods, blanched in boiling water for a couple minutes, then ready to easily slip out of their shells...beautiful bright green beans!

I'm really looking forward to growing more next year for us and for my garden customers too.