Broad beans.

Young, tender broad beans are a joy to eat, especially in a parsley sauce.

I leave the small beans as they are and take the skin off the larger ones, it is worth all the faff. They are about the only vegetable I know where you have a huge pile of picked pods and by the time you've finished you're left with about a cupful of beans and a dustbin full of waste!

Enjoy!

I love them and have grown them in the past, but we have only a small garden and the amount of room taken up did not justify the small amount of beans they yielded!

Try steaming them till tender and stir into a light cheesy sauce. Delicious!

I'm going to have to buy some this week now!

I love broad beans! I'd pop them out of their skins before freezing, I think. I don't bother take skins off the tiny ones.

I just like them steamed until tender, no fancy recipes for me.

Enjoy!

I boil them very lightly- about 3 mins, depending on their size. Let them cool in the colander or, if you're in a hurry, plunge them into chilled water.
When they're cool enough to handle, remove the skins and dispose of them.
Heat a little oil or oil & butter in a stir fry pan and throw in a handful of sesame seeds and cook gently until golden. Add the beans, a finely chopped onion, a little fresh parsley and a grinding of black pepper. Stir gently until the onion is just soft and the beans are hot. Serve & enjoy.

We used to grow them and they can be delicious.
Blanche in boiling water for 3 mins, drain, rinse in cold water and remove the skins.
They're good in salads with french dressing, or warm with peas then tossed in butter s&p.
We never had enough to freeze - they keep quite well in a cool pantry. But I've read that you freeze before blanching.

Sounds good Scribbles. We had to give up our allotment and I do miss the broad beans (and asparagus). I used to blanch them for about a minute and then remove the skin before freezing. Grandchildren can be useful slave labour for taking the skins off. My five year old grandson was surprisingly brilliant at removing tomato skins when I was making tomato glut soup.

I've been growing and freezing them for many years, I don't bother blanching them, just shell and pop straight in a freezer bag, they don't stick together so you can just shake out as many as you need. As long as you crop them while still young they should be fairly sweet and tender and only take about 15 minutes to simmer.
Older beans can be slightly bitter but a small amount of sugar added to the cooking water will counteract this.
I used the last of ours frozen 11 months ago and they were fine.

I used to grow broad beans and you have to grow an awful lot to make it worthwhile, so they are not space productive, but they are delicious when they are young and fresh - both my grandson’s and my DH’s favourite vegetable. I like to take the skins off and add them to risotto with asparagus, sun dried tomatoes and lots of parmesan. Or in a salad.

I love them, and I like them when they have grown big and floury almost better than when they’re small. These days I buy them, but when I was a child my father use to grow them - plentiful and delicious! I loved the scented white flowers, too.

Off-topic, but he also grew beans like green beans but with yellow pods, called golden waxpods. Anyone familiar with those? I’ve never come across them since.

Yuk - like eating cardboard!!

We grow our own. Absolutely love them.

Grandma70 not sure but I think Thompson and Morgan sell seeds of Golden Wax Pod beans.

Thank you all for the ideas. I have blanched the larger beans and they taste good raw. I think today I shall make a mock risotto using cauliflower 'rice', and have plenty more options for the next few days. I knew I could rely on you Gransnetters!

I confess I have never ever eaten or cooked a broad bean in the last 67 years. You have all encouraged me to try them, so I shall follow your instructions. Serving them with a cheesy sauce sounds lovely. Thank you all.

Love home grown broad beans. Have 2 paltry plants on allotment so had about 10 small beans but they were delicious. Must grow more next year.

It was a regular veg for me as a child and I hated them.
My mother never took the skin off so I thought that was how they were eaten, they were bitter and horrid.
Fast forward 40 years and a holiday in the Vale of Evesham, they were served with most meals eaten out, succulent tiny beans , a lovely colour and lovely taste, if only I had known before that you skin them after boiling.

I love them, we haven't grown any this year...…
As someone else said earlier they do take up a lot of room for a very small amount of end product
Haven't grown any peas either for the same reason

Broad beans... directly out of the garden,first of the season are a true delight,and I have enjoyed them for most of my life........with lots of butter and brown bread,with parsley sauce,with cheese sauce..........however, very sadly, for the latter few years they are one of the many forbidden foods in my daily diet.
On Saturday I saw them for the first time this season, in a little green grocer`s selling them......small and mere babes!!.......from someone`s garden, and my mouth started watering there and then.
However, I have long learnt giving in to temptation equates with day long gastric pains,so I refrained, and tried putting the thought out of my mind.

Then I spy this very tantalising thread .................oh! how my tummy yearns more and more having read your comments.....you tormentors all!!!

My daughter has developed a passion for broad bean and courgette salad - balnche bbs for 2min, pour into chilled water then skin. I used to hate them when young but they were never skinned and now find them tolerable like that.
It seems to be getting difficult to get them in the shops, is the bb season nearly over?

The season has only just started in Tesco, but they have had them for the last couple of weeks here. It’s a frustratingly short season. Frozen ones just aren’t right.

Life is too short to skin a bean
I do like home grown runner beans though, very little waste there.

Oh lemongrove now you're talking, we always grow our own runners - my favourite - we always have plenty to share with family and friends too