GARDEN FRESH : Honor Thy Fava

F eves. Fave. Habas. Bakla. Paghlah. Koukia. Ful. The French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Armenian, Greek and Arabic names for an ancient bean that is as treasured in those kitchens as it is neglected in ours. Even the British are mad about these broad beans.

How, in this inquisitive, vigorous ferment called America--where radicchio, tomatillos and bok choy keep company with lettuce and tomatoes in our crispers--have we let favas get away?

It would make sense if favas weren’t delectable from start to finish. From the time the pods are a couple of inches long to when the nubbins inside are pea-size, you can prepare the pods just as you would snap peas or beans. When seeds reach the soft shelly stage (the fresh-shelling stage between snap and dry), they’ll remind you of limas--with more flavor. And the mature dried beans, which can be the size of a small daisy, creamy or coppery in color, are meaty-rich.

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One reason favas are so popular abroad is their versatility. Although any bean can be eaten at every stage, I can’t think of another whose fine quality, flavor and texture at every stage match these.

Typically, the French simmer fava beans at the shelly stage with sprigs of summer savory and thyme. They make a veil of sauce by whisking an egg yolk, olive oil and lemon juice into the reduced cooking broth, then top the dish with more summer savory.

As a rite of spring--the way we dive at the first asparagus--Italians pack a heap of raw young fave pods into a picnic basket with a bottle of golden wine and a wedge of salty sheep’s milk cheese, then head off to the country, a pretty ritual.

North of Madrid in Segovian soil, favas are grown to perfection. In winter, the dried beans might be stewed with ham, sausage and a pig’s foot and ear, then finished with tomatoes, pimiento, onion and garlic. Glasses of a deep-red vino de la tierra wash down this lusty dish.

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Turks enjoy cooked favas cooled and heaped with yogurt flavored with garlic and dill. Dill also figures in an Armenian spring stew--snap favas and chopped dill are added to almost-tender chunks of lamb and onions in tomato sauce, then simmered until all is tender and ladled over pilaf.

In Greece, baby artichokes are ready to be harvested while favas are still in the snap stage. The artichoke hearts are quartered and simmered with the beans, some of the juices thickened with flour and sharpened with lemon, served hot with chopped wild fennel. And retsina!

Ful medames , the national dish of Egypt, is cooked in huge, nearly spherical pots and sold by street vendors the way hot dogs are here. The small dried fava beans are simmered with garlic and served in soup bowls with a variety of garnishes, such as hard-boiled egg, chopped parsley, olive oil and lemon juice. The Egyptians have a saying, “Even the pharaohs have feasted on ful medames ,” and certainly the name comes from the old Egyptian language, Coptic ( phel mithems ).

The English fancy their broad bean pods young and pale and boiled with mint or parsley.

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So does it make sense we are largely deprived of such feasts? Perhaps it’s that fava beans aren’t always sweet. Depending on the soil in which they grow and the cultivar, favas can have a spirited flavor, sometimes even a hint of herbal bitterness (larger dried beans, however, are most often sweet). But this can’t be the reason. Americans are fond of tastes with an edge: Cheddar cheese, garlic, dark chocolate.

Even fava leaves are good to eat! Pick young top leaves and tear them into salads, or chop them for soups, or use them as garnish with their fragrant pale-sweet-pea-like flowers.

Underappreciated favas. It would make sense if raising them weren’t foolproof. Favas will produce on lean soil as long as it’s well drained, but of course the more fertile it is, the finer the plants. The plants will leave the earth in which they grew richer than they found it; favas contribute lots of nitrogen to the soil. They need sun and a modicum of water but usually no irrigation if there is rain. Aphids are likely to be attracted to the top leaves. When the plants are tall enough and setting blossoms, pick off those leaves and bring them into the kitchen. Until then, douse the critters with the hose or soapy water.

Favas are vigorous, some plants growing five feet tall. For them, set pea sticks--slender prunings from trees and shrubs that the plants can lean against as they grow--in the ground at sowing time.

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Bushes of favas are appealing. They can grow close together and make a deep-green hedge. (Spring flowers such as columbine, daffodils and larkspur are delightful against the hedge.) Fava leaves bear no resemblance to those of summer beans, because they don’t belong to the same family. Both are legumes, but favas are in the vetch clan and native to North Africa and Southeast Asia. Most of our sunny summer beans are in the pea clan, native to this continent.

Favas are a cool-weather crop that loves cold soil. In warm climates, they’re annuals grown as a winter/spring crop, and in cool climates as an early summer crop. In most of Southern California, sow favas from September through February. In the high desert, sow in February and March. Mark your calendar. Where winters are frozen, sow from mid-February through April.

Harvest snap pods at two to three inches with a sharp downward twist. Harvest beans for fresh shelling when the seeds appear as small bumps in the pod. The slight scar on the side should be white or green. By the time the scar darkens, each bean is in a jacket that most people want removed. You can pop it off after cooking. Harvest dried beans when pods are brittle.

For seeds, a white knight is coming to the rescue in our relatively fava bean-less nation. Ianto Evans has established a Fava Bean Project in Oregon, where a brilliant collection of favas from all over the world is being grown and improved in expectation of popularizing these nourishing beans.

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One of the Fava Bean Project’s achievements is Aprovecho Large, a large and decidedly sweet bean. Another, Bonnie Lad, grows only 15 inches tall, gives small, light-green seeds and is lovely in the border with sweet peas. Castillo Franco, heirloom Spanish beans, are dark-brown--for Arabic dishes. Broad Windsor is a classic large English bean known for fine flavor. When sowing, sprinkle the seeds with an inoculant--bacteria that increases productivity.

Sources

Fresh--Farmers markets and fine produce departments.

Seeds--Broad Windsor and fava bean inoculant from Territorial Seed Co., 20 Palmer Ave., Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424. Others mentioned from Seeds of Change, P.O. Box 15700, Santa Fe, N.M. 87506. The Fava Bean Project is at the Aprovecho Institute, 80574 Hazelton Road, Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424.

Note : One caution about fava beans applies to people of African, Asian and Mediterranean descent: Every part of the plant may cause a reaction to those with an inherited allergic condition known as favism. Obviously, the vast majority of people with such ancestry don’t have the favism gene, but if you come of this stock and have never eaten favas, start with one or two.

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This is a gem of a bean dish. Speckled with red and green, the sauce is rosy pink--delightful around the celadon-colored beans. Four servings meant one for my husband and three for me. I never seem to plant enough.

The menu for the rest of the meal should be Italian, I think. A good roast chicken, a tossed salad with lots of colors and crispness, and the same wine used in the bean dish for sipping. And luscious red grapes and creamy cheese for dessert.

FAVA BEANS IN WINE-SCENTED SAUCE

(Fave al Vino)

1 tablespoon mild olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped, or 1 clove garlic, finely chopped, with 1/2 small onion, finely chopped

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 to 2 pounds snap fava beans of assorted pod sizes

1 cup chicken, beef or vegetable broth

2 firm canned plum tomatoes, squeezed of excess liquid and finely chopped

Small handful chopped fresh oregano leaves or Italian parsley leaves

Salt

Freshly ground white pepper

Heat oil in large, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and saute, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in flour, then wine. Add fava beans, then broth. Return to heat and bring to simmer.

Cover, turn heat to medium-low, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes and oregano and cook until beans are just tender, about 10 minutes more, again stirring frequently. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Serve at once in bowls. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

654 calories; 296 mg sodium; trace cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 105 grams carbohydrates; 47 grams protein; 5.34 grams fiber.