Broad Beans

[Mozie]

I'm growing broad beans in my garden and want to know if one can eat th

pod or just the beans? Thank

-- Mozie

[simy1]

just the beans. Young if you want them to taste like peas, the longer you wait and the more they will taste like beans that should go in a hearty stew with sausage (starchy, stronger tasting).

[John Savage]

You can eat the lot! But pick them young, when about double the diameter of an ordinary string bean if you are going to cook pod and all. If you let them grow to full size the pod is far too tough. You DO NEED TO string BOTH edges of the pod before you cook them even when you harvest young or you'll be chewing a mouthful of string at the dinner table. The plants will produce more beans if you thin the crop out by picking some young beans off it, too. Go for it! Young broad bean pods are delicious. Cook them whole, for just a few minutes.

The enemy of broad beans is windy weather. Should the tops fold over just let them be, don't try to bend them back up! The bent plants will manage just fine. Much better if you can protect them against a paling fence or something, though, so they aren't blown over in the first place.