Article: Sow broad beans now

The formal name, Vicia faba, may offer little comfort to a small boy faced with a pile of grey shiny lumps on his plate, but broad beans are one of the most ancient of all Old World vegetables. Remnants of broad beans have been found in European Iron Age settlements.

The secret to broad-bean consumption -- unless you like boiling them, sucking the flesh from the pod and discarding the skins -- is to eat them while they are young and not to overcook them.

A simmering in a little water until they turn a brighter green suffices.

The best way to get them young is to grow your own. Indeed, this is often the best way to get them at all. My supermarket undoubtedly isn't the only one that only ...

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