Broad Bean (Vicia faba)

Vicia faba, often known as the broad bean or faba bean in the culinary sense, is a species of vetch belonging to the pea and bean family fabaceae. It is extensively farmed as both a crop for human food and a cover crop.

I. Appearance and Characteristics

Vicia faba, commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Varieties with smaller, harder seeds that are fed to horses or other animals are called field bean, tic bean or tick bean. Horse bean, Vicia faba var. equina Pers., is a variety recognized as an accepted name. This legume is very common in Southern European, Northern European, East Asian, Latin American and North African cuisines.

Vicia faba is a stiffly erect, annual plant 0.5 to 1.8 metres (1 ft 8 in to 5 ft 11 in) tall, with two to four stems that are square in cross-section. The leaves are 10 to 25 centimetres (4 to 10 in) long, pinnate with 2–7 leaflets, and glaucous (grey-green). Unlike most other vetches, the leaves do not have tendrils for climbing over other vegetation.

Broad Bean (Vicia faba)
Vicia faba Honeyhuyue CC BY-SA 3.0

The flowers are 1 to 2.5 centimetres (1⁄2 to 1 in) long with five petals; the standard petals are white, the wing petals are white with a black spot (true black, not deep purple or blue as is the case in many “black” colorings) and the keel petals are white. Crimson-flowered broad beans also exist, which were recently saved from extinction. The flowers have a strong sweet scent which is attractive to bees and other pollinators.

The fruit is a broad, leathery pod that is green, but matures to a dark blackish-brown, with a densely downy surface; the wild species has pods that are 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 in) long and 1 cm diameter, but many modern cultivars developed for food use have pods 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 in) long and 2–3 cm thick. Each bean pod contains 3–8 seeds. They are round to oval and have a 5–10 mm diameter in the wild plant, but are usually flattened and up to 20–25 mm long, 15 mm broad and 5–10 mm thick in food cultivars. V. faba has a diploid (2n) chromosome number of 12 (six homologous pairs). Five pairs are acrocentric chromosomes and one pair is metacentric.

II. How to Grow and Care

Sunlight

Fava beans prefer to grow in full to part-sun, meaning at least six hours of direct sunlight on most days.

Temperature and humidity

Temperatures between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius are ideal for the plant. They may not cope in hotter temperatures and are prone to diseases.

However, broad beans plants can tolerate temperatures up to 4 degrees Celsius well and even colder temperatures down to -6 degrees Celsius for short durations. Typically, humidity is not an issue if there is sufficient soil moisture and proper air flow around the plants. The plant thrives well in long, cool growing seasons.

Watering

Broad Bean (Vicia faba)
Vicia faba stanzebla CC BY-SA 2.0

The plants have average water needs and some drought tolerance. About an inch of water per week is fine. However, during flower and fruit production, keep the soil evenly moist but never soggy.

Soil

Fava beans can tolerate a range of soil types, as long as there is good drainage. A loose, loamy soil with a slightly acidic to neutral soil pH is ideal.

Fertilizing

Broad beans and other legumes fix their own nitrogen into the soil. Hence, they do not need additional feeding. However, working compost into the soil can aid in growth, particularly if the soil is nutrient-deficient.

Pruning

Once the plant starts flowering, pinch off the top couple inches of growth to encourage a bushier habit. Prune plants to a few inches from the ground after you’ve harvested the ripe pods. If your temperatures are still suitable to growing fava beans, the plants might regrow and provide a second harvest.

Propagation

Most gardeners grow fava beans from seed. And you can save seeds from a mature plant to grow during the next season. This is an easy and inexpensive way to get new plants, and it will allow you to duplicate plants whose vigor or flavor was particularly good. Here’s how:

  • Allow pods to dry out on the plant. Then, cut them off.
  • Arrange the pods in a single layer, and dry them for at least two weeks indoors in a cool, dry spot with good airflow.
  • Remove the seeds from the pods, and put them in an airtight container. Place the container in a freezer for a week. Then, store it in a cool, dark spot.

How to Grow from Seed

Fava beans are planted much like other types of beans. You can speed up germination by soaking the seeds in water for 12 to 24 hours before sowing. Direct sow the seeds 1 to 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart. Keep the soil moist but not soggy, and germination should occur in a week or two. Thin the seedlings to 4 to 6 inches because crowding can encourage diseases.

Broad Bean (Vicia faba)
Vicia faba 01 Aneta CC BY 2.5

How to Grow in Pots

Growing fava beans in containers is a good option if you don’t have the garden space. Choose a small variety to make container growth manageable. A container that is at least 5 gallons with ample drainage holes is ideal, though note the space requirements for your specific variety. An unglazed clay container is best, as it will allow excess soil moisture to escape through its walls. Add a stake or other support structure to the container to support the plant as it grows.

Overwintering

Fava beans are annuals, meaning they complete their life cycle in one growing season. Therefore, overwintering is not necessary. Leaving the plant roots in place after harvesting will continue to fix nitrogen in the soil. However, in warm climates, many gardeners plant fava beans in the fall, overwintering them in the moderate climate, for a spring harvest.

Potting and repotting

Choose a quality all-purpose potting mix with adequate drainage. When opting to grow the plants in containers, go for a large enough container for mature plant to preventing disturbing the roots while repotting.

Pests and Diseases

Broad Bean (Vicia faba)
Vicia faba 07 AfroBrazilian CC BY-SA 3.0

Fava beans are largely trouble-free in cooler weather, but warm temperatures can bring a variety of insect pests, including aphids and black flies. Pea and bean weevils might feed on the leaves and can damage young seedlings. And broad bean seed beetles can eat holes in the seeds, though this usually does not hinder germination. Fungal diseases and rust also can be a problem in wet conditions. Watch for powdery mildew, fusarium root rot, mosaic virus, and broad bean chocolate spot. Make sure you provide plenty of room between the plants to improve air circulation.

III. Uses and Benefits

Culinary uses

Broad beans are generally eaten while still young and tender, enabling harvesting to begin as early as the middle of spring for plants started under glass or overwintered in a protected location, but even the main crop sown in early spring will be ready from mid to late summer. Horse beans, left to mature fully, are usually harvested in the late autumn, and are then eaten as a pulse. The immature pods are also cooked and eaten, and the young leaves of the plant can also be eaten, either raw or cooked as a pot herb (like spinach).

Preparing broad beans involves first removing the beans from their pods, then steaming or boiling the beans, either whole or after parboiling them to loosen their exterior coating, which is then removed. The beans can be fried, causing the skin to split open, and then salted and/or spiced to produce a savory, crunchy snack.

Other uses

  • In ancient Greece and Rome, beans were used in voting; a white bean was used to cast a yes vote, and a black bean for no. Even today, the word koukia (κουκιά) is used unofficially, referring to the votes. Beans were used as a food for the dead, such as during the annual Lemuria festival.
  • The ancient Roman family name Fabius and the modern political term Fabian derive from this particular bean.
  • Both Porphyry and Iamblichus report that Pythagoras once persuaded a bull not to eat beans
  • In Ubykh culture, throwing beans on the ground and interpreting the pattern in which they fall was a common method of divination (favomancy), and the word for “bean-thrower” in that language has become a generic term for seers and soothsayers in general.
  • The colloquial expression ‘not worth a hill of beans’ alludes to their widespread economy and association with the peasant diet.
  • In Italy, broad beans are traditionally sown on November 2, All Souls Day. Small cakes made in the shape of broad beans (though not out of them) are known as fave dei morti or “beans of the dead”. According to tradition, Sicily once experienced a failure of all crops other than the beans; the beans kept the population from starvation, and thanks were given to Saint Joseph. Broad beans subsequently became traditional on Saint Joseph’s Day altars in many Italian communities. Some people carry a broad bean for good luck; some believe that if one carries a broad bean, one will never be without the essentials of life. In Rome, on the first of May, Roman families traditionally eat fresh fava beans with Pecorino Romano cheese during a daily excursion in the Campagna. In northern Italy, on the contrary, fava beans are traditionally fed to animals—and so some people, especially the elderly, might frown on human consumption. But in Liguria, a maritime region near northern Italy, fava beans are loved raw, and consumed fresh in early spring as the first product of the garden, alone or with fresh Pecorino Sardo or with local salami from Sant’Olcese. In some Central Italian regions, a once-popular and recently rediscovered fancy food is the bagiana, a soup of fresh or dried fava beans seasoned with onions and beet leaves stir-fried, before being added to the soup, in olive oil and lard (or bacon or cured ham fat).
  • In Portugal and Spain a Christmas cake called bolo Rei in Portuguese and roscón de reyes in Spanish (King’s cake) is baked with a fava bean inside. Whoever eats the slice containing it, is supposed to buy next year’s cake.
  • A similar tradition exists in France, where the fève (originally a dried bean, but often now a small china or metal trinket) is placed in the galette des rois; the person who finds it in their slice becomes the king or queen of the meal, and is often expected to serve the other guests to drink.
  • Pliny claimed they acted as a laxative.
  • European folklore also claims that planting beans on Good Friday or during the night brings good luck.
  • Frederick E Rose (London) Ltd v William H Pim Junior & Co Ltd [1953] 2 QB 450, is an English contract law case where the two litigants had both mistaken feveroles for ordinary horse beans.
  • Can be used as a green manure, due to nitrogen fixation it produces.
  • In the Netherlands, roasted or fried broad beans are regarded as a local delicacy of the city of Groningen, and is locally called molleboon. Until the 1800s, the city council used mollebonen for the voting process, sometimes real beans, sometimes made of stone or clay. The word Molleboon became a nickname for the inhabitants of the city.

IV. Harvesting and Storage

Broad Bean (Vicia faba)
Vicia faba Toscana Carnby CC BY-SA 3.0

Broad beans can be plucked and cooked as whole pods when they are around 7.5 centimetres (3 inches) long. However, they are often taken a little later, when the pods are fully ripe, and the seed is still tender. The bean pods should be “shelled” and the beans removed before consumption.

Each bean’s scar should be either green or white in colour. If the bean is black, it has past its prime and will be rough and chewy when consumed.

Broad beans are excellent candidates for freezing. Simply harvest, de-shell, and store in a plastic bag in the freezer until ready to use.

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