My husband is ever so happy that the fava bean harvests have started, they are one of his favorite vegetables. That's one of the first small harvests from about a week ago, a little over one pound of pods and about 1 1/2 ounces of tender young fava leaves. I grilled the tenderest pods to be eaten whole and the other half of the harvest was shelled, peeled, and chopped to be included in a saute of the fava leaves and some pea shoots. Unfortunately I used some crumbled peppers from a mislabeled jar of dried peppers to season both preparations and the dishes turned out to be almost unbearably spicy. Other than the excessive level of spice the dishes were still quite good and I did another variation on the sauteed fava leaves a few nights later combined with spinach instead of pea shoots and seasoned with pine nuts and zante currants instead of incendiary peppers. That recipe went over much better! When I finally harvested enough beans to get 1 1/2 cups of shelled and peeled beans I made one of my husband's favorite fava dishes, a spread/dip made by pureeing the blanched beans with lemon juice, olive oil, ground cumin and a touch of salt. Very simple, other than the shucking and peeling, and very tasty. It's delicious paired with some tangy feta cheese on crackers or toast.
Yesterdays San Francisco Chronicle has a recipe for whole roasted fava beans that is a little different from the grilled favas that I did. I'm going to give this method of using whole fava pods a try with some beans from my next harvest. If you only have a few pods to harvest or you don't want to go through the process of shucking and peeling the inner beans you too might give this a try. If you're curious to try fava leaves the Chronicle also has a short article about using fava leaves that I found to be helpful.
The rest of the harvests lately have been much the same as in weeks past, here they are:
Golden Chard thinnings - 1 oz.
Couve Tronchuda (Portuguese Cabbage) - 14.8 oz.
Fava Beans - 6 lb., 7 oz.
Fava Leaves - 5 oz.
Green Garlic - 13 oz.
Butterhead Lettuce - 1 lb., 14 oz.
Sweetie Baby Romaine Lettuce - 8 oz.
Snow Pea Shoots - 4 oz.
Guntmadingen Spinach - 6.4 oz.
Yu Choy - 15 oz.
The harvests for the last three weeks were - 12 lb., 8 oz.
The total harvests for the year are - 43 lb., 3 oz.
Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.
The fava beans look great! Mine were sown a little late this spring so I'm just now getting flowers. Do you recall what the wait was begin flowers and mature beans?
ReplyDeleteI'm trying favas for the first time this year. The dips sounds really good. I'll have to give it a go if I get enough.
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteWe have favas in flower right now, just two rows 9 foot long. Hope to try one of these recipes. You harvest is looking good.
Nice harvest! I didn't know fava leaves were edible. What do they taste like?
ReplyDeletemuddytoes, darn, I really don't remember how long it has taken from flowers to mature beans - sorry! I'm going to guess that it is about 5 or 6 weeks though...
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Daphne, this is your first time growing favas, I'm surprised, I hope they do well for you.
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Randy Emmitt, 2 nine-foot rows should give you plenty of beans and you can try the greens long before the beans mature.
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Sherry, I'm pretty new to the edible fava leaves myself, I tried them for the first time last year. They are very mild flavored with a bit of a sweet bean flavor, a bit more chewy than spinach. They are good straight off the plant, pluck a young one and give it a try!
What a beautiful picture! This is my first time growing favas too.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I never grow fava beans. I really do like them but never think to get them into the garden line up. Your recipes all sound delicious - with the exception of the incendiary pepper flavoring!
ReplyDeleteYour beans look great! I'll have to try using the leaves, I have never done that.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, I can't to try fresh fava beans and leaves this year.
ReplyDeleteThese beans are such a treat, aren't they? And thanks for the roasted whole pods suggestion - I'm going to try that. We had them podded and boiled, then coated with olive oil, last night and they were wonderful. Enjoy all your spring harvests!
ReplyDeletePS my daughter is in California on holiday, so I'm looking forward to some first hand accounts of it all!
Robin, Thanks! I hope you enjoy the favas.
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kitsapFG, I'm surprised you don't grow favas, they should do really well where you are. Oh, those peppers were a real surprise, I had that label so wrong...
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Mr. H., they are tasty and a nice change from the usual spring greens.
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Nartaya, around here we always look forward to the first fava harvests but they just seem to be ready in their own sweet time...
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chaiselongue, I'm not sure why the first favas are so yummy, perhaps because they are such a nice break from the all the greens that seem to be the only thing coming out of the garden until the favas come in. I keep warning my husband about all the shucking and peeling to come but he doesn't seem to be fazed, yet...
I'd be curious to hear what your daughter thinks of the parts of California that she visits. She's got good timing, we are finally having some decent weather after a rather cool and damp start to spring.
Hey Michelle, You're getting me really excited for this year's fava harvest! I have have to remember to harvest some shoots.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the seeds. They germinated beautifully!
Those broad beans look lovely!
ReplyDeleteLovely harvest, my fava is flowering now, I'll wait a bit longer before harvesting the shoots, I want to see the pods first.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a good treat. Sorry about the mix up though.
ReplyDeleteYour favas look yummy!!
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