broad is beautiful

An allotment specialty is the broad bean.
Planted in the autumn, it serves the purpose of a green manure but then goes on to yield a delicious crop. they are cropping from May and so are one of the earliest of the new season vegetables.

Here, the pods are still developing and the beans inside are tiny. At this stage they are picked, chopped and used in stir fries or are delicious steamed. We use half the bed for these baby broad beans.

The beans on the other half of the bed are allowed to grow onto maturity. Then, the pods are picked, the pods discarded and the big, creamy beans eaten.

Perfect in salads when cooked and allowed to cool.

When braod beans appear on the plate you can confidently predict you are in the home of a gardener.