Types of Broad Beans

Broad Beans in the Home Garden

• Broad beans are well suited to the home garden because they thrive in a wide variety of soil types and pH levels. However, they don't tolerate over-watering or drought and prefer a long, cool growing season. They are susceptible to aphids but also attract beneficial insects, like lady bugs and predatory wasps, into the garden. Fava beans are grown much like garden peas. Sow them early in the spring and harvest them when the pods become thick but are still green.

Broad Beans in the Kitchen

• Fava beans are similar to edamame beans (fresh soy beans) in texture, flavor and color. The Fine Cooking website recommends choosing beans that are small to medium in size because they will be sweeter and more tender than very large beans. You can freeze broad beans by first shelling them, then blanching them, making it easy for a home gardener to preserve an abundant crop of beans for future use. They are eaten raw as a snack; added to soups, stews and salads; served as a side dish; or pureed with other ingredients to create a spread for crackers. Broad beans often are substituted for lima beans by those who do not like the dry texture of lima beans.

Alternative Uses for Broad Beans

• Broad beans are useful as a cover crop to nourish depleted farmland and break up clay and compacted soils. The sturdy taproot of the fava bean, typically 1 to 3 feet long, digs into hard soil and loosens it. When mature, the nitrogen-rich plants are tilled under and allowed to compost as "green manure," naturally providing organic fertilizer to the receptive soil as they decompose. Some farmers allow the bean plant to dry after harvesting and bundle the foliage like hay or simply let their farm animals forage on the harvested field.