One day last spring I was looking over the latest Cooking Light and eyed a Fava bean risotto.  I'm a huge risotto fan so the recipe which also had Arugula, fresh mozzarella, and Prosciutto immediately caught my eye.  The thing was though that I'd never had Fava beans before.  Nevertheless, I thought I'd give it a try and I'm glad I did.  The recipe was really good.  The only downside was that the Fava beans were really expensive.  That's why this fall when I saw Fava Bean seeds in the fall garden catalog I decided to grow my own.

Beans, and peas which are actually the family Fava Beans are part of, are pretty easy to grow.  The seeds get planted directly in the ground and with a bit of water they just grow.  Fall gardens in California also have the advantage of not requiring much water since they grow during our wet season.  I started the Fava beans about the same time as my snow peas, in late September, but the snow peas have been producing for well over a month.  I pretty much had given up on the Fava beans which is why I was really surprised last week to find that they had finally produced! 

With my first harvest, I made the "Fava Bean Risotto" from last year.  It’s a pretty easy meal except for the time spent podding the Fava beans.  It tasted great - even better knowing I made it from my own beans. 

I still have tons of buds on my Fava bean plants which means I should have several more harvests.  If anyone has some favorite Fava bean recipes I'd love to hear about them!

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