Broad beans

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Broad beans
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Guest

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 05 8:42 am Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

I believe you can eat the whole pod on very young beans. Anyone tried this?

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Yes, I don't like broad beans as they get bigger, but the whole pod, picked at the stage of infanticide and steamed, lovely.

Tristan

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 05 9:34 am Post subject:
My kids when I mentioned it was time to plant the broad beans again just looked at me as if to say "oh no not again" - We had such a massive crop of them last year that at one point we were having broad beans with every meal - think I may still have some in the freezer To be honest I really enjoy them - grew Green and Scarlet ones last year - the flavour in the green was probably better JOanne

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Tue Feb 22, 05 9:58 am Post subject:

On Malta, they dry the broad beans, and then use them to make a spicy bean paste called bigilla - lots of chilli, garlic, parsley, a bit of mint, lemon juice and olive oil. It is quite delicious, can be served hot or cold, or even fried like falafel. Needless to say, my attempt to reproduce it with the dried broad beans I brought home with me was rather disappointing.

Another nice way to cook baby broad beans is to braise them very gently with an equal quantity of freshly podded peas on a bed of lettuce. You only put a very tiny amount of water and a good knob of butter in the pan, bring it up to the merest simmer and then clamp the lid on firmly and braise for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with some chopped mint and ground pepper.

Marigold123

Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 224

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 05 12:40 am Post subject:

I love broad beans, particularly young ones, even though I never even tasted them until about 10 years ago!

I only grew the once, but a whole load of ants came and planted aphids all over all the plants while they were flowering - I watched them do it. And then it appears that they cut off the stamens and took the pollen away with them. I had hardly any beans.

Has this happened to anyone else? I was so gobsmacked when I watched them doing this, I couldn't believe it was happening. They just marched right in and there was very little I could do. I know ants plant aphids, as well as just milk them and defend them, (the ladybirds did NOT want to know), but I'd never seen them cutting stamens before.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri Feb 25, 05 1:50 pm Post subject:
Well, cheers for the advice everyone - I've decided to give them a miss this year as I found a good home for the spare seed on the RC seed swap (although we've kept 10 beans to grow in the flower beds - I do like the scent, too, and the flowers are very pretty themselves). I will give them a go in the future though, and will make sure to give them a bit more TLC with the compost etc!

moggins

Joined: 24 Feb 2005
Posts: 942
Location: Gloucester

Posted: Fri Feb 25, 05 7:41 pm Post subject:
My ex swears by loading the bean trench with old newspapers before putting the manure/compost/soil in. He always ends up with the longest beans I have ever seen and they taste great too, which is a surprise as I don't usually like them.

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