Fava Beans

Readily available in fresh, frozen, canned, or dried varieties, fava beans are legumes native to Northern Africa and Southern Asia, although they are now cultivated virtually worldwide.

Valuable in many areas as a cover crop to prevent erosion since they will not die in the winter, fava beans grow in pods on bean stalks of average height. Before they are eaten, the beans must be removed from their leathery brown pods, and then from their waxy white skin.

One of the oldest known cultivated crops, fava beans are prominent in many Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes. Often served in salad, soup and stew, they can also be mashed and combined with spices to create dips and spreads.

Fast Facts:

  1. Latin name: Vicia faba
  2. Also known as broad bean, horse bean, field bean or Windsor bean
  3. Season: Early summer
  4. Fava is Italian for bean
  5. The only beans eaten in Europe before the discovery of the new world
  6. Pop culture reference: Infamous Hannibal Lecter quote from The Silence of the Lambs

Fava Bean Cookbooks

Fava Beans Answers

  • Search for Questions

    Preview

References

Learn something new with our FREE educational apps!

Private lessons in the comfort of your own home. Get back in shape or finally pick up a guitar with our great experts guiding you the whole way!
Learn Guitar
Learn Hip Hop
Learn Pilates

Upload a picture from your computer

You can upload a JPG, GIF or PNG file. Do not upload pictures containing celebrities, nudity, artwork, or copyrighted images).

Specify an image URL

Image URL

Search

Type the image URL in the text field above and click 'Search'. Large images may take awhile to process.

Please remember that using others' images on the web without their permission is not very nice.

Crop this picture

Just click and drag on the image below to start cropping! Use the handles on the crop box to resize it.

Preview

Upload a picture from your computer

You can upload a JPG, GIF or PNG file. Do not upload pictures containing celebrities, nudity, artwork, or copyrighted images).

Specify an image URL

Image URL

Search

Type the image URL in the text field above and click 'Search'. Large images may take awhile to process.

Please remember that using others' images on the web without their permission is not very nice.

Crop this picture

Just click and drag on the image below to start cropping! Use the handles on the crop box to resize it.

Small Medium Large Full

Preview

Hotkeys