[Sca-cooks] Uses for fava beans....

[Terry Decker]

There are a number of varieties of favas, some large, some small.  Pliny 
comments on them.  Apicius has recipes.  Martino has recipes.  And, IIRC, 
they appear in the inventory of one of Charlemagne's villas.  To quote 
Martial, "...fava beans, the food of laborers,..." (10, 48); and "...pale 
fava beans with rosy bacon." (5, 78).

>From a quick look at the evidence, fava beans were in common use from 
Antiquity through the Renaissance.  They were an everyday food of commoners 
and nobility (who have a number of recipes to improve them for the noble 
palate).  The beans were planted in winter or early spring (being the first 
pulse planted, Pliny), eaten fresh through the growing season and dried for 
winter use.  Use wasn't seasonal, but the various dishes may have been 
regional.

Bear

> Huh! I wonder if they're exceptionally young (and maybe more tender), or
> perhaps favas have different strains that come in different sizes? The 
> dried
> ones in my bag are quite a bit bigger than a pistachio!
> Would dishes with fava beans in them have been a seasonal/regional thing
> then?
> --Maire, waiting for the next snow storm to come through town, and eating
> fresh-baked bread while she waits (yummmmmm....)