Fava Beans

Last weekend David and I made Spring Risotto, made with corn, peas and fava beans.  If you've never experienced the joy that is cooking with fava beans, let me warn you:  they are a labor intensive vegetable!

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We started out with a big pile of fava beans.  It looks like a lot, doesn't it?

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In fact, we started with 3.830 lbs of fava beans.

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First we shelled the fava beans.  After this we had a big bowl of fava bean pods . . . 

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 . . . and a small bowl of fava beans.

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We had 1.040 lbs of fava beans, to be exact.  Now you may think that this is the end.  But no.

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Next we skinned the fava beans.  It turns out that the fava beans themselves each have a tough skin that is not good for eating.  In order to skin them, we first blanched the fava beans for a minute or two.

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So then we finally had the fava beans that we were going to eat: 0.618 lb.  For anyone who is wondering that 16 percent of the original fava bean pod weight.

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After all that work we had worked up an appetite.  

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Spring Risotto, yum!