In Your Share (August 1st edition)

The Fava Beans are great right now! Not sure if they’ll make it through this HEAT WAVE but we harvested early in the week and early in the morning in order to make sure we got the all the good ones for you. Most legumes we grow – peas, green beans and dry beans – are all vining plants with white flowers similar to a sweet pea. Fava’s are quite distinct in that they are an upright plant with striking black and white flowers. We usually plant them in the fall or early spring, harvest some of those tasty greens while they are in the vegetative phase of growth, then start picking pods as soon as they start to fill with beans. Fava’s are native to North Africa and South Asia, but are now grown through much of the world. They are especially popular in the Middle East, China and South America. Many cultures eat the fresh shelling beans like we do, but often the dried beans are cooked in soup or stew. Some varieties can also be dried and popped like corn nuts. I posted one of my favorite recipes for fresh fava beans below…

Amazing recipes for Fava Beans and everything else in your share are available to members at Cook With What You Have. If you joined our Summer CSA you will find your password in the member email. Enjoy 24/7 access to recipe inspiration!

This week your share may include…

  • Basil: Lovely bunches of green and purple basil!
  • Cucumbers: We’ll have plenty of Diva green and Silver slicer cucumbers in the share this week. We will also probably have some available for sale in bulk next week. If you want to do some preserving, just let me know. Here is one of my favorite quick pickles – this is my Mom’s recipe for Sweet Refrigerator Pickles.
  • Eggplant: Beautiful Japanese eggplant with a few pink and Italian mixed in.
  • Fava Beans: We always like to have some kind of legume in the share whenever possible. The season usually starts early with sugar snap peas, then transitions to fava beans, then we’ll have green (and purple and yellow and romano) beans later in August and possibly into September. Finally in winter we have a variety of different dried beans. Of all the legumes, fava beans are often the least familiar. It can be alot of work to double shell them in the traditional Italian fashion, but it is so worth it! If you’re pressed for time then chose smaller beans from the bin today and try them on the BBQ or under the broiler using this recipe for Ignacio Matta’s Grilled Fava’s.
  • Garlic: Yum!
  • Summerfest Greens: These mild mustard greens are very versatile – tear them raw into salad or chop & quickly sauté them.
  • Summer Squash: Assorted shapes, sizes and colors and they’re all tasty. Grill slabs of zucchini or patty pan on the BBQ or slice them into a gratin or use a big one for Zucchini Bread.

Coming soon… Walla Walla Sweet Onions!