First Fava Bean Harvest

Beth Krehbiel shows Quimper Grange Garden's first five pounds of fava bean harvested for the Food Bank. We have been cutting the tender shoots for weeks, also for the Food Bank, and just noticed tons of beans ready to pick.

Fava Beans (or Broad Beans) are interesting in that they have a pod AND a waxy hull around each bean inside the pod. If you catch them small enough, you can eat pod and all - but otherwise they need to be shelled, then lightly steamed - then the inside hull will pop right off.

Favas are full of protein, manganese, folate, and fiber. They have been documented as early as 6000 BCE, and are currently a staple food in the Middle East, southern Europe, and Africa.