Can someone explain them to me? I have been reading information and googling and I am sooo confused.
Any clarification would be greatly appreciated. I have some Aguadulce seeds that were given to me and I'm just not sure what to do with them.
Thanks in advance!
Broad Beans
Broad beans are fava beans or faba beans, species Vicia faba. They're a cool weather crop that can be sown as soon as the soil is workable and the beans can be used either fresh, fresh-frozen, canned or dry. The shoots and immature pods are also eaten. Wikepedia has an OK write-up that can get you started., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicia_faba or you can always ask more here.
Ok - so aguadulce is a type of fava bean then? I guess I'm mixed up because I'd never grown anything but pole and bush beans - snap or string. Looking at the Wickipedia photo, I real now that I did grow some of these last year. They were almost like a shrub. I didn't know exactly what to do with them and tried eating them like a bean - icky-poo! Somewhere I got it into my head that a brad bean and a flat bean were the same thing. I grew a Helda Bean last year and it was the best bean I've ever eaten. so, this year I will try them both again - and eat them the correct way.
Thank you for the clarification. I'd read that they could be eaten fresh and that they grew to be 8" long. Now I realize the difference. If eaten fresh, I need to pick them MUCH younger! I knew something was off when I was gnawing on those tough woody tasteless beans last year.
Thanks again!
Aguadulce are delicious fava beans! But they are a lot of work to prepare them.
When you shell out the beans, they are protected by a thin membrane that needs to be removed. Drop the shelled beans in boiling salted water for ~5 minutes, then drain and drop in cold water. You can then pop them out of their skins and use them in many dishes. We like them with orrecchiete pasta, tomatoes, crumbeld ricotta salada, olive oil and rosemary and a touch of salt & pepper.
The leaves of the fave plant are also cooked as a leafy green vegetable.
Well, that certainly explins why they were so - um, eeeeeew! to us last year! (New and eeew!)
Oh, yum! That sounds SOOOO good! And thanks for the tip on the greens! Waste not, want not.
Aside from my large raised bed and my container gardens, I have 7 4'x4' square foot beds. I am doing the large bed ala Three Sisters with corn and cornfield pole beans, so I thought I'd dedicated a sq ft bed or 2 for the "broads". According to the books (Sq Ft Gardening and Cubed Ft Gardening), I should be able to plant 18 - 25 bush beans per 2'x2' sq. I'm thinking broad bean plants might be larger than the average bush bean? And, if I'm (finally) reading things correctly, they produce in a flush, so I should plant in a couple of successions, as the season length allows? It is also my understanding that they are frost hardy, so I can go well into the fall with them?
Agrinerd - is Franklin in the Graham County area?
garden_mermaid wrote;"We like them with orrecchiete pasta, tomatoes, crumbeld ricotta salada, olive oil and rosemary and a touch of salt & pepper.
The leaves of the fave plant are also cooked as a leafy green vegetable."
Thanks garden_mermaid, sounds great!
Sequee, I gotta quit folowing you around :(. Now, I not only have something else I need to try, I'm HUNGRY!! Good thing I have lot of space...*G*
Hey, cat - let me know if you want a few seeds to try.
That recipe does sound awesome, doesn't it???