Healthy and light snack? Try Fava beans!
Origin
Leonforte Broad Bean, also called Turkish bean, is a variety of fava bean that still now a day is being cultivated manually in Leonforte, Sicily, and because of its quality, is now a Slowfood Presidium. The sowing is between November and December and from May on there is the harvesting process, that terminates with exsiccation. This type of legume has a very ancient origin, at least 5.000 years, and it is very peculiar, but in the last 30 years, its production diminished progressively, because of the meccanization of cultures. Among the producers there are Agricola Leonforte and Agricola Mitera, that still now a day cultivate the passion for this product.
Cook It
Vicia Faba, the plant from where fava beans are born, belongs to the Leguminose family. This legume has always been very famous and its origins seems to be in Asia Minor, but they were also very known among the Romans, Egyptians and Greeks. The cheap price, the ease of its cultivation and the incredible healthy properties made this bean the “poor’s’ food” for centuries and still now a day, it remains very easy to cultivate this legume. Italy, Germany and China are the biggest producers of it. From the plant, there is a light green pod that comes out, and inside of it, there are 6-10 flat beans with an irregular shape: fava beans.
Did you know that?
“Who opens a pod and find 7 brothers inside, will have a long happiness time”. An ancient belief, ma never say never. Fava bean is full of properties, like water, fibers, proteins, B1 vitamins and they almost have no fats. Also, they are full of iron and perfect to fight anemia. Dried fava beans can be found in many different herbalist’s shop as a remedy to stimulate diuresis. But careful! You don’t have to exaggerate with them. Favism is an illness where people who present and enzyme deficiency, by eating fava beans can compromise the ability of transporting oxygen in the blood.
