Nutty and slightly sweet, fava beans are delicious served with pasta, added to potato salad, cooked with meat, or added to a salad. Fava beans have both an outer pod and a waxy coating on each bean. Here is how to cook them:

Ingredients

Fresh Fava Beans

Directions

First, pull off the top of the bean and “unzip” the seam of the pod. Open the pod and remove the beans. (Optional: marvel at the fact that the inside of the pod is fuzzy!).

Blanch the beans. To do this, boil a pot of water. Add the beans to the boiling water and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Then immediately transfer the beans to a bowl of ice water. Slip off the waxy skins.

Now the beans are ready for most recipes. You could steam them until tender, cook in a veggie stir-fry or add to a fresh salad.