Fava Fest

The fava bean plants are starting to look a little sad in this summer weather. I suspicion they lose their ability to fight off bugs and diseases in the heat, because their leaves are droopy and munched. Luckily, there was a pretty good crop of mature beans on them. I had been worried when I planted them that it was too late and I wouldn't get a harvest. I think the heat did cause some blossoms and small beans to drop, but those that were into their development already seem to still be maturing just fine.

I harvested about half of the beans that were on the plants. Any that looked like they could use a bit longer to mature stayed on the plants. I pulled about 3 & 3/4 pounds off the plants. My understanding (from an article about the Santa Monica Farmers Market) is that favas run for about $3/pound, so I definitely recouped my seed costs on this one, especially if a few more pounds are still out there growing.


The sad part about favas is the amount of effort that goes into making them edible. First, you have to shell the favas.


You might think these are edible, but in reality there is a thick, pale skin still on the beans. In order to peel this off, you have to boil them in salt water for ~1min. If you cook them any longer, the beans start to get mushy, so after their brief boil they get put right into an ice bath. This loosens the skin which you can then pierce with a fingernail and squeeze the bean out.


In the end, I ended up with about 1 & 1/4 pounds of edible favas. Boy are they delicious though! I put half into the freezer for later and half into the fridge (after I snacked on a few!) I'm hoping to make something with the ones in the fridge in the next few days.