A fava primer

This blog could also be titled, “Try not to be depressed with how long it takes to end up with so few favas.”

I like fava beans. But they don’t have a big ROI when it comes to effort. I have grown them once before and decided to plant them again this spring as soil fixers. Here’s the bunch I picked about an hour ago:

Here they are again with a ramekin for reference (I plan on putting all of them in the ramekin once they are blanched and peeled):

Now – to get to the point where you can eat them, you’ll need to shell, blanch, and peel them. Here we go…

They shell kind of like peas, but you have to really man-handle the squishy fluff filled pods:

Put them all in a pile, or you can be crazy like me and sort them into similar sized piles; they can really vary in size!

Bring some water to a boil, and toss your favas in to blanch. I do the large ones for a count of 90, the medium for a count of 60, and the small for a count of 30, starting with the large in the water and adding each smaller size as 30 counts has gone by. You really don’t have to worry too much about this; you’ll just end up with favas with different levels of cooked-ness if you don’t separate. Not a big deal. We’re talking less than 90 seconds here.

Strain out of the water with a slotted spoon and set in a bowl for the next step:

To peel, some people say you can squeeze and they pop right out. I do not find this to be the truth. I use my thumbnail to help the process along:

And once you get through all those little suckers, viola! 1/2 cup of favas.

I think I’ll make a salad with these, lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, and some parmesan shavings.

 

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