Broad (Fava) Beans

Very young broad beans can be eaten in their pods like snow peas, but as they get older, the pods become tougher and the beans inside develop a grey, leathery skin. Generally though, broad beans need to be removed from their pods before cooking and should also be double podded to remove the grey skins. To do this, blanch them for a couple of minutes, drain and cool under cold running water, then slip off the skins. When buying fresh broad beans, remember that most of the weight is the pods, which you will be throwing away. (1 kg/2 lb broad beans will give you about 300 g/10½ oz of podded beans.) Frozen broad beans are also available.