Fava Beans: Lots of Uses

These gorgeous fava bean flowers (broad beans to some of you) are edible.  Not only can you eat them, you can enjoy eating them.  That's important in an edible flower, as Renee Shepherd once said when asked about such things, "There are a lot of edible flowers; whether or not they're tasty is another thing."

Fava beans have a lot of wonderful purposes in the garden.  They are a great cover crop.  You can sow them in the autumn here in coastal central California, and while they are growing all winter and early spring, they are improving your soil.  They do this by "fixing nitrogen."  That means that they somehow grab hold of the nitrogen in the air and infuse it into the soil.  The roots also improve the texture and "tilth" of your soil as well.

You can start cutting the tops of the favas after they get about four or six inches tall.  The tender greens can be used in salads, soups, or stirfried.  When cut down to a node (a point at the stem where a branch juts out), the fava will then grow two shoots to replace the first one.  When you do that, you get a bushier plant and ultimately more flowers.  And of course, when you get more flowers, you get more beans.

After the long fava pod forms, you can eat the interior bean as well after it's been shucked.  Eat it raw when small, cooked when mature, or even dry it for reconstitution and cooking later. There are few plants with so many uses.  They also look lovely in the garden!

Comments

[Sea]

Cynthia, We planted fava beans in your spring gardening class and I fell in love with growing them. They were hardy, beautiful, and delicious. However, now they seem to be done producing beans. I have read that it is better not to let them produce beans as they then store their nitrogen in the root structure. Oh well! How should I now deal with the plants? Should I cut the tops off and leave the roots in to release their nitrogen and will this be effective? I would then compost the tops... Or should I try to uproot the whole plant and turn them under? Thank you for any advice! We didn't prune them as recommended and will try that next year.

-Brenda

PS I've started the seeds for our winter garden and am so excited about the brassicas! Kale worked well for us, too, so I'll be growing several varieties of that and lettuce. :)

[Linda]

What type of sun and soil moisture do fava beans like when planted?

[John Hsu]

I planted fava beans last November, the plants are now two to three feet high and has lots of flowers, however, none of the flowers form pods, the flowers on the lower stem just dropped. Can you tell me what was the problem.
Thanks,
John

[Louise Christy]

Do you stake your favas? Last winter mine got so tall they needed to be tied up. Of course, now I know to cut them back early.

[Lauren McNitt]

What a great blog post! I had no idea that you could eat fava flowers adn the young shoots. This solves a few problems for me, like what to do with a tall, thin, top-heavy fava plant - snip it while young, eat the young greens, and grow a bushier plant!
Thanks for the wonderful ideas an information. I learn surprising and useful things every time I read your blog.

[Love Apple Farm]

Patricia: It doesn't hurt to soak them for 24 hours before planting, but we don't bother to do that.

[Patricia Messer]

I'm just planting Fava beans for the first time--they look gorgeous. They look so hard, I wondered if they should be soaked?
I can't wait to taste they fresh

[Gavin Palmer]

Nice looking beans! Do you prune them back more than once to get more flowering heads, or are those in the picture planted quite densely?

Thanks for the tomato planting tips. I'll be saving those for next spring - we are just going into Autumn here in Australia, though it is still unseasonably warm and I am getting a great germination rate with my winter greens.

Thanks and Regards

Gavin