A few weeks ago, while shopping at the Coop, I came across a vegetable I hadn’t prepared before–fresh fava beans. I’ve heard much praise for their buttery texture and nutty flavor, but I’ve only had dried favas which don’t have quite the same appeal. Fresh favas are a Spring delight, so get them if/when you can.
The biggest problem with fresh favas is the labor required to get at the beans. Start with a big pile of the fresh pods, then extract the beans by hand by unzipping the big fuzzy pods. You’ll get a disappointingly small pile of waxy bean-shaped things.
Next that waxy coating has to come off, but it’s not easy either. You need to blanch them for a few minutes to soften the coating, then dig your fingernail in and pop out the beans. One by one, the dark green favas pile up.
The now depressingly-small number of beans you have could be eaten as-is, or they could be tossed into a salad or sauteed with some bacon. But just look at these things, they’re kinda creepy looking, right?
