Skinning Fresh or Frozen Fava Beans

For fresh fava beans in the pod, split the pods open and remove the beans. Using a sharp paring knife, remove the little “hat” on top of each fava bean and squeeze the bean out of its skin. Alternatively, you can remove the skins by blanching the fava beans in the same way as for peeling tomatoes below. For frozen fava beans, soak in warm water for 5 minutes and then peel by simply squeezing the beans out of their skins.