Is a fava bean worth peeling if it’s the size of an English pea?
Distinctly unsatisfactory favas. Maybe they were harvested too early?
Beulah, Peel Me A Fava
24 Friday Apr 2015
Posted in Linnet Likes
Linnet Moss
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24 Friday Apr 2015
Posted in Linnet Likes
Is a fava bean worth peeling if it’s the size of an English pea?
Distinctly unsatisfactory favas. Maybe they were harvested too early?
Oh no! What a disappointment 😦 I love broad beans… only really got to appreciate them after moving to the UK. In Germany, nobody eats them. They are grown, but only as pig food. Here in Spain, where they eat a lot of pulses, they are very popular, too.
Pig food! LOL. They keep their swine well fed. Or maybe it began as a way of insulting the Romans, who adored the bean 🙂
In short, in my humble yet perhaps lazy opinion, no. 😏
Yeah, I peeled all the big ones, persevered for a while with those dinky ones, then gave up and tossed them in the compost!
Oh, fava beans are what I know as broad beans? Never liked them. They were called smelly feet beans in my house. I didn’t even know you were supposed to peel them as I have never cooked the things. This will continue to be useless information as I never intend to cook them.
Smelly feet beans? LOL. What did you do, use them in a science experiment?
I never tasted them until I was an adult, but as soon as I did, I loved them!
I think I may have mixed up broad beans with lima beans. Whichever it was, we thought they smelled bad when the were cooked, hence the “smelly feet” name. Meh, we were kids. Yet I liked brussel sprouts and still do.
Now see, I can’t eat the sprouts. They taste bitter to me, unless they’re pickled. Lima beans have never been my favorite, but I don’t recall them having a bad smell! My grandfather called them “Candy Beans” to get us to eat them 🙂 Without success.
Candy beans! ROFL Bless your grandad and his low opinion of kids’ intelligence. 😀
I don’t think so. They were just no good at all. Here in Rome is ” fava time” ( usually April and early May) and we eat them with pecorino cheese, Roman pecorino cheese of course. 😉
Oh, that sounds so good. My next batch is going to be topped with pecorino!
oh love these, great in risotto or salads or many things, do tend to buy them frozen though to save time with the peeling 😉
And you don’t like brussels?? ohhhhh..have you tried them roasted in the oven? Ie from raw, smothered in a bit of olive oil and with generous salt on them, spread on an over tray and roasted on high for some 20 min or until they are crispy and brown on the outside? Yum, you can sprinkle a bit of lemon on them right before eating but the outer salty crunch is very good 🙂
Yes, I’ve tried them every which way but loose, and they still have this overwhelming bitter flavor. The only time I really loved them was in Jean-Georges’ restaurant in the Trump Tower in NYC. I think he broiled them, because they were brown and crispy. Another time I had tiny ones like small marbles, and they were also good–very mild.
Part of me wants to scream YES, as I just saw them appear in my grocery store yesterday, but then I think of all the work one must go through to make a sizeable portion–and to only have them in miniature? That would be a bit crushing. Sounds like a disappointing batch. I sure hope the taste made up for them, but at that size, I can’t imagine it likely.
Oh, how I love fava beans.
I just love them more when someone else peels them for me.
Peeling them can deliver a zen-like glow of well-being. But only if they are satisfyingly large. If they are the size of English peas, it causes the blood pressure to spike.
Just a reminder from last year’s fava season – grill/ char them with olive oil and then toss with coarse salt – you can eat the whole thing – pod and all. But I also agree on the possible disappointment, I once bought a load from a local store ( Fairway) and when I brought them home – there were like, baby, tiny beans inside. I learned to pick more carefully and feel the weight.
As soon as it is warmer outside, we’ll be grilling!
Our store is terrible in that they not only give a mixture of bean sizes in every pound, they also toss in other kinds of pods. Those English peas in the photo came to us along with the favas!
I know. I guess one has to try to feel the weight. One time, the ones I bought were utterly useless.