Time for a Bean Feast...

A brief straw poll of farm shop customers, friends and family reveals that broad beans are one of those vegetables that you either love or loathe. Perhaps some of you are damaged for life by childhood memories of tough, grey-skinned beans smothered in gloopy white sauce. But don’t be put off- those are old memories of old beans, and one of the perks of growing your own veg is being able to choose at what stage you harvest it. Courgettes can be picked while they are no longer than my hand, and broad beans when the beans can just be felt through the pod, well before they are bulgingly obvious. At this stage they are tender and sweet and need only the briefest cooking to keep their vivid green colour and flavour. If you miss some pods and have to pick them large, try skinning the cooked beans (a bit fiddly) or use them in casseroles where their mature starchiness is an asset (a ‘beanfeast’ or ‘beano’ was the annual feast laid on by landowners for their farm workers, typically of a stew bulked out with beans).

 

As just a week makes all the difference between small tender broad beans and fat ones, ‘succession planting’ is all the more important for us with this crop- frequent sowings to try and ensure a fresh supply over a long period. We had a good early crop from our polytunnel, but the plants were a flop, literally, having grown too long and leggy in the warmth of the tunnel. That crop had now finished and, just as we’ve pulled out the last of the plants, the first of the outdoor pods are ready… succession success!

 

Did you know?..

Broad beans have been cultivated since the Iron Age, but are very much a cultivated plant- you will never see a ‘wild’ broad bean plant, as their thick furry pods can’t open naturally to disperse the seed. They are the only plant entirely dependent upon man for the survival of the species. So get planting!

  

 

Picking now at Village Greens:

 

Lettuce

Baby leaf salad

Radishes

Broad beans

Courgettes

Climbing French beans

Fresh herbs