Camp, I too cannot stand butter beans from a can nor frozen, these are just as terrible and overly large and tough as the green peas found in tv dinners, yuk. Wayne, thanks for the Fordhook bush tip but my bush days are over except for snaps (green beans) which is the best way to freeze large fresh batches at once. My back ain't what she used to be so my days bending over to pick BBs is behind me. Last year while I was expecting a dismal repeat of King of the Garden limas I planted Butter Peas bush variety as a back-up, these were productive and tasty but way too much effort bending over to harvest. Sticking to pole picking. PN, wonder what the heck happened to Sieva seed beans? If King of the Hill seed wasn't offered around here we'd have zero pole varieties on the market today. Wish too that I had saved some Sieva seed :(

Mushroom and Tomato Polenta with Fava Beans Yield: Serves four to six 1 pound fava beans, shelled 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 2 to 4 garlic cloves (to taste), preferably fresh green garlic, sliced thin Salt, preferably kosher salt, to taste 1/2 pound mushrooms, either regular or wild (or a combination), cleaned, trimmed and cut or torn in thick slices 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves 1/4 cup dry white or red wine 1 (14-ounce) can chopped tomatoes, with juice Slivered fresh basil 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan Polenta 1. Prepare the fava beans. Shell them while you bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Drop the beans into the water, and boil small favas for one minute, large favas for two, then transfer at once to a bowl of ice-cold water. Drain. Remove the skins, using your thumbnail to open up the skin at the spot where the bean is attached to the pod, then gently squeezing out the bean. 2. Make the polenta according to package directions, and while it is cooking prepare the mushrooms and tomatoes. 3. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat, add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the mushrooms, thyme and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, until the mushrooms are moist and beginning to soften, about five minutes. Add the wine, turn up the heat and cook, stirring, until the liquid in the pan has reduced and glazed the mushrooms. Stir in the tomatoes, add salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a simmer. Cook uncovered, stirring often, until the tomatoes have cooked down (there should still be some liquid in the pan) and the mixture is fragrant, about 10 minutes. Add the skinned fava beans and continue to simmer for five to 10 minutes. Taste, adjust seasonings, and remove from the heat. 4. When the polenta is ready, remove from the heat, spoon onto plates and make a depression in the middle. Top with the mushrooms, favas and tomatoes, and sprinkle with basil and Parmesan. Serve at once.

Favas are a bit different than some/most green manures...the tops contain a decent amount of N and tilling is advisable for the tops. If you're cutting then applying compost over it...it's about as good, though. The main thing is not leaving it around to volatilize off into the atmosphere during breakdown. Tilling mature legumes of all types helps break up the nodules to make the N more immediately crop accessible, though (assuming the tilling is hard enough to scar/open/break nodules). That said, given that they're well protected in the soil, they'll all eventually be made available...it's just a question of how much of a "quick dose" of plant available N you're looking for in tilling vs. not tilling.

Yes, the favas (geez, I had "limas" typed out just then - even still, I'm getting the names confused!) taste quite a lot like edamame. I think that's why I enjoyed them so much. The texture and flavor were similar, but a bit more assertive in the favas than you'd find in a soybean. I was feeling too blah to cook the limas after making a batch of kale chips to snack on (have you all tried them? Holy goodness, they are SO good!), so I'll have to futz with them tomorrow. It sounds like they need a bit of cooking time, as some of the recipes I saw said to boil them for 15 minutes or until tender, and they were referring to fresh limas. That sounds like an awfully long time to boil anything green, so we shall see. I like mealy beans a lot, so that might not be a bad thing. Vall3fam, I hadn't even thought of checking out TJ's or Whole Paycheck for frozen favas, and I was just there today! I'll have to look the next time I go. I'd love to buy them fresh, but even at $1/lb, I'd end up composting 3/4 of it because the shell to bean ratio is so small, and decreases even more when you peel the skins off of the beans.