We’ve planted our broad beans today, and although there were a few snowflakes falling, I know that these tough seeds won’t even notice.
I didn’t grow up eating favas, and it’s only in recent years that I have come around to a real appreciation for this amazing plant and it’s wonderful fruit. Like all of the plants of the legume family, just having them growing in the garden is beneficial, as they are incredible nitrogen fixers. Cutting the stalks instead of pulling them out after the plant has finished its life cycle is a great way to take full advantage of this.
The plants will grow up to about four feet in height and produce huge pods of bright green beans in the early summer. There are many ways to eat and process them, but honestly, we’ve never been able to get to the point where we can dry and store them, as they’re just too darned tasty as they are. We flash steam them in the pods, peel the skins away and eat the buttery green seeds hot with butter and lemon, or cold on a salad niçoise.
We have planted the Windsor variety from West Coast Seeds, but have also planted rarer black and purple varieties from the Salt Spring Seed Company. Sadly, the Qualicum Beach Seedy Saturday event was a bit of a snow day and the Salt Spring folks didn’t make it. Hopefully we’ll connect with them in Duncan later in March and score some interesting new varieties before it’s too late to plant.
