Fava

We got our first fava beans of the season. I learned last year how much work they were when for the month they'd come in our CSA box. This year our CSA farm had an insect infestation so they had to turn-under their crop. With this news I took care to use ours judiciously. I took the beans out of the pod, blanched the shells and pealed them. I'd made a tasty lentil soup and just added the blanched beans to the top. They gave a peppery bite to the soup.

After this I found out while working at the garden with Eva, that fava leaves are quite tasty. Amy, the gardening coordinator, had read an review of a Chronicle food critic of going to a fancy restaurant and having a delicious salad that included the leaves. We'd planted the beans in a mix as a cover-crop, harvested the beans and were ready to cut and turn-under the green stems in to the ground. At this news there were a bunch of kindergarteners gathered around the plants nibbling on the leaves - a lot less work then the beans!