So what are fava beans? For over 5,000 years, the fava bean, also known as the broad or horse bean, has been a staple in many cultures all over the world. During the early Bronze Age, Mesopotamian farmers began cultivating fava beans, and their popularity quickly spread. It wasn’t long before fava beans became popular all around the globe. Similar to lima beans in taste and texture, favas are one of the most flavorful and meaty bean varieties around. Cooking dried fava beans gives them a buttery texture and a lovely, nutty flavor. Fava or faba beans are fantastic in appetizers, omelets, soups, casseroles, salads, stuffed in chicken, mashed into dips or spreads and tossed with garlic, olive oil and pasta. Our peeled fava beans have been naturally blanched to remove the unsavory skins. If you were to do this at home, you’d have to remove the fava bean pods, boil the fresh beans and plunge them into ice water before drying. However, we’ve done all the work! Like many of our excellent dried beans, fava beans are an excellent source of fiber and provide protein and iron. To cook these premium quality beans, place them in a large pot of water over medium-high heat, bring them to a boil and simmer for 40-45 minutes. Then pour off the boiling water and proceed however you wish. Once cooked, these fava beans can be used in countless ways. Toss them with olive oil, lemon juice and garlic for an easy side—alongside a nice chianti, of course. However, there are dozens of fava bean recipes from countries around the world who consider the bean an important part of their diet! In Algeria, fava beans are used to make Bissara, a dip and soup. In China, the beans are fermented with chili peppers and soybeans to make doubanjiang, a spicy bean paste popular in Sichuan cuisine. Croatians use them to make stuffed artichokes, and in many countries they are cooked with rice, including Iran, Iraq, Japan and Nepal. You can combine them with pasta for soup, as in Malta, or toss them with hot crispy bacon, as they do in the Netherlands. Fava beans play a major part in Peruvian cuisine: there they are stewed, toasted, boiled and even roasted. In Portugal, fava beans are cooked with pork and onion to create favada, a popular stew. Fun fact: fava beans make a fantastic cover crop, as they restore nitrogen to the soil and prevent erosion!

Country of Origin: Peru