Broad Beans: any growers

Hi there
Going through my seed catalogue I have come across Broad Beans which it sound like have a totally different planting time from other beans
Any experience with broad beans, when to plant and how do they taste?
thanks

I haven't grown them but I think there was a thread from last spring about fava beans or broad beans...

If my memory serves me from when I lived with my parents, the beans are a bit "heartier", maybe fuzzy?. They were always cooked with bacon and tomatoes so I don't know what the pure flavor was.

GWN wrote:Hi there
Going through my seed catalogue I have come across Broad Beans which it sound like have a totally different planting time from other beans
Any experience with broad beans, when to plant and how do they taste?
thanks

GWN,

 UK wise : - We have two periods before the first frost to over winter .. harvesting late March to mid April time .  This allows an early crop  that is unlikely to be affected by black fly after the nectar of the flowers .

 The second season is plant in Feb when the ground is free of frost , they come in around June and can be slaughtered by the black fly unless you spray them .

 You could try cheating and work back to the earliest time you can sow them in doors in 4 inch pots so that they are ready for planting out as the frost eases and the ground is frost free to a depth of say 12 inches then plant them out .


 Spacing wise ..my BB's were set at one plant per sq ft  in a straight line between two 1/2 " wide tapes set at a height of 20 inches from the bed  in the beds on 1x1" batons .

 I had to do it like that because the previous year the weight of the 3 foot tall stalks in the loose MM caused them to topple over in the wind and heavy rain .

 After they were spent  I used secateurs top cut the stem to about 9 inches tall &  had to use a ladies garden fork to loosen the root cluster and then had to spend a while teasing it about on the bed to recover the MM..
The roots were far bigger than the ones I've grown in Mother Earth soil, they had spread over into adjacent squares .

plantoid wrote:...I used secateurs to cut the stem...

I had to double check what I thought the word secateurs meant.  

Definition of SECATEUR
chiefly British
:  pruning shears —usually used in plural

The word  reminds me of Edward Scissorhands!

Edward S.:

That is great, I will plant them elsewhere.... what do they taste like? and how do you cook/preserve them
I saw a great recipe for broad bean pesto and decided I have got to try them
So is it really frost free there in February?

lightly boil I for four minutes in slightly salted water straight out of the pods , drain add a smidgeon of butter and shake them around the pan.

Allow 1/2 a cup of them per person to see if they like them

 You can also add white parsley sauce to them
They go well with light chilli concarne as an extra veg.
I like them with any meat and gravy meal .
 
I even eat them with steamed fish and various fish sauces instead of potatoes. 

They are also often eaten boiled and buttered with a few twist of black pepper on them along side salted pork & new potatoes.( I think it is called Butt pork on your side of the world )

I've often flung a vac pack bag ( 3 portions ) of them in to chicken stock based soups with carrots . celery and a 16 ounce can of chopped tomatoes .

 You can do a 90 second blanch  , ice cool drain dab dry with a few sheets of clean unused kitchen towel and then  vac pack & heat seal & freeze asap . If shop purchased  they hang around in the pods in the fridge for much more than two or three days they tend to smell a bit off and are not nice when they are cooked .

 I couldn't find any pressure canning recipes nor hot water bath canning recipes but that does not mean to say there are no safe ones out there.
 I can't yet find out if they can be reconstituted from dry and used in making a dish after soaking and boiling etc. but I suspect there are recipes for this out there as they dry and store so well .

Tip
It's easy top make your heat sealed packs too big ..we only freeze a meals worth for the three of us which is about two heaped cups full in each vac pack bag. Having a massive bag of them opened and closed several times soon see them get freezer burn & develop the off flavours and smells I mentioned..

sanderson wrote:If my memory serves me from when I lived with my parents, the beans are a bit "heartier", maybe fuzzy?.  They were always cooked with bacon and tomatoes so I don't know what the pure flavor was.

Maybe I'm thinking of broad green beans. Sounds like you guys are talking about a hard bean.

Actually Sanderson
My understanding is that
Beans can be eaten 3 ways,
1 as whole beans, much as you eat the green beans
2 Dried which you dry and eat the inside beans
3 like you would a shelled pea, you just eat the beans inside the pod. Fresh OR frozen  (like Edememe)   This is how I THINK  Plantoid is talking about.  
The reading I have done about Fava beans... or broad beans is that the beans can be squeezed out from the INSIDE shell as well (double shelling) , and this would be the stuff that you make the pesto out of. I do not think that these are used as much as a dried bean.

THERE IS a medical side to this as well. Fava beans cannot be eaten by people with G6PD deficiency OR Thalessemia.   It was a favourite question on medical school exams, but the thing is that I have almost never seen a patient with  Thalessemia NOR have I ever had a patient with G6PD deficiency, but have always been worried about Fava beans.  Thalessemia is much more common in mediteranean countries though.

These are the broad beans I'm on about . When dried they look like twisted bits of thick tan/drab olive  coloured leather and they have a black eye on the edge of them


 Those in the pot wold be discs of about 1/2 to 3/4 inches in diameter and be abut 1/4 inch thick
 The podded ones would be in 8 inch or so long pods if they were in my garden .

I think folks on MAO inhibitors are also not supposed to eat them due to the tyramine content. And beware the phytohemagglutinin that some beans contain; they should be cooked.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/beware-of-the-beans-how-beans-can-be-a-surprising-source-of-food-poisoning-931862.html

Nice one Camp .. perhaps that why there are no broad bean recipes for rehydrated broad beans.

 I find it amusing that a veggie would not know about having to boil almost all dried beans and throw away the boiling water then rinse the beans in more boiling water to remove the toxins before using them as an ingredient in a meal that must be cooked even more.  

A guy who I used to work with was a pasty faced skinny vegan who tried to have a superior attitude to us run of the mill meat eaters.
 He went down with various types of  food poisoning & stomach upsets on a regular basis much to the delight of us wicked work mates who would leave a pork or beef pie on his work bench .
 One of the best episodes was his kidney bean salad made from lightly boiled dried beans because he, "  liked the crunchiness of them "  .

Very, very interesting. Thanks

plantoid wrote:... I find it amusing that a veggie would not know about having to boil almost all dried beans and throw away the boiling water then rinse the beans in more boiling water to remove the toxins before using them as an ingredient in a meal that must be cooked even more....

I'm not a vegan, but I eat beans, and I didn't know that. Is that just for home grown beans or does it apply to packaged beans from the store too?

I've been cooking for a lot of years and this is the first time I heard about this. I guess I've been lucky because when I make bean soup I just throw all the stuff in a pot and add a lot of water, boil and add more water till the beans are done. Guess the key was all the boiling. I've never used home grown beans, just the package from the store. Does this also apply to black-eyed peas?

Kay

I have always done all of those things just to prevent the gas.

I poked around a bit looking for more info, this is what I have found. Please post any info you have found about phytohemagglutinin.


http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2385/#b

http://www.fda.gov/food/foodborneillnesscontaminants/causesofillnessbadbugbook/ucm071092.htm

http://chemistry.about.com/b/2013/02/15/hemagglutinin-and-food-poisoning-from-beans.htm

It seems species specific, but don't quote me on that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaseolus_vulgaris

boffer wrote:

plantoid wrote:... I find it amusing that a veggie would not know about having to boil almost all dried beans and throw away the boiling water then rinse the beans in more boiling water to remove the toxins before using them as an ingredient in a meal that must be cooked even more....

I'm not a vegan, but I eat beans, and I didn't know that.  Is that just for home grown beans or does it apply to packaged beans from the store too?

 If the  beans are in a packet in a store it should say about boiling , draining etc. Not all dried  beans & pulses need the toxin removal though for the life of me at the minute I can't recall any .


 If they are in a big sack first check that they are not insecticide treated beans for planting .. then for good measure look up the beans on the internet especially in the cookery arena's or Wikki

CAMPRN
In all fairness, you are quite strict about staying on the subject, and I feel you have veered this thread far off topic. You have reminded me often of staying on topic.
I was talking about Broad beans, AKA Fava beans. Not kidney beans.
Reading this thread, I fear might turn someone off of growing beans for drying. Yet Drying beans is one of the very best, safest, non toxic means of preserving our summer crops for use in the winter.
They are loaded with protein, they do not require energy to preserve.. IE freezing, they do not have toxins in the lids, and they will keep for years with no energy expenditure.

They seem to be a totally different bean from others in that they tolerate cold weather. I mentioned the thalassemia in case others in other areas might have that condition and need to avoid Fava beans.

GWN wrote:CAMPRN
In all fairness, you are quite strict about staying on the subject, and I feel you have veered this thread far off topic. You have reminded me often of staying on topic.
I was talking about Broad beans, AKA Fava beans.  Not kidney beans.
Reading this thread, I fear might turn someone off of growing beans for drying. Yet Drying beans is one of the very best, safest, non toxic means of preserving our summer crops for use in the winter.
They are loaded with protein, they do not require energy to preserve.. IE freezing, they do not have toxins in the lids, and they will keep for years with no energy expenditure.

They seem to be a totally different bean from others in that they tolerate cold weather.  I mentioned the thalassemia in case others in other areas  might have that condition and need to avoid Fava beans.

Thank you GWN for the reminder. Regarding keeping threads on track, in all fairness, everyone should remember that it is my job to try to get things back on track and it is in no way ever personal. EVER.

GWN, you are correct that this thread has taken a turn. My original responding post that began this downward spiral was meant to be informational about the broad/fava bean in question. Is it not better to be informed of the hazards of some of the foods we eat? I hope no one becomes fearful but keeps themselves and their loved ones well and healthy with good information.

GWN wrote:Hi there
Going through my seed catalogue I have come across Broad Beans which it sound like have a totally different planting time from other beans
Any experience with broad beans, when to plant and how do they taste?
thanks

Does anyone have good information for GWN?