Broad bean Bunyards Exhibition

The Extra Early White Broad Bean is a very early variety that produces beautiful pods of 20 to 25 cm (8 to 10in) filled with large white grains. It is a good variety that can be sown from October to November or from February to April depending on the region.

The Broad Bean is a legume that belongs to the large family of Fabaceae, like the bean and the pea. After falling slightly out of fashion, it seems to be making a comeback in vegetable gardens. It is a vegetable worth rediscovering without hesitation, as its cultivation is easy.

Originally from Asia and the Middle East, the Broad Bean is widely cultivated around the world, both for its flavor and its nutritional qualities. Rich in energy nutrients, it is considered a starchy food. There are many varieties of Broad Beans, with varying pod sizes and grain colors: some are white, others are brown.

The Broad Bean can be consumed both raw and cooked. However, it is a dish that requires some effort as fresh Broad Beans take time to prepare: you will first need to shell them and then remove the second skin from each grain.

To enjoy them raw with a pinch of salt like radishes, you should harvest them when they are young and tender, which will save you from the second peeling. Generally, 1 kg of raw Broad Beans yields 250 g of peeled Broad Beans.

Cultivating Broad Beans is easy, and if your soil is rather poor, clayey, and moist, you can rejoice for once! Broad Beans are made for you. Indeed, like all Fabaceae, they are not demanding. And they thrive in heavy and very fresh soils. They are not very sensitive to cold either and can be sown as early as February in most parts of France.

Harvest: Harvesting Broad Beans simply involves picking pods at different degrees of ripeness depending on how you want to consume them: raw, cooked, or dried.

Storage: Fresh Broad Beans can be stored for a few days in the vegetable compartment of your refrigerator. You can also dry them and store them at room temperature. Broad Beans freeze very well too.

Gardener's tip: Broad Beans are the preferred vegetable of black aphids. It is rare for them not to be attacked by a colony that usually descends massively on an entire row. To get rid of them without resorting to insecticides, you can spray water mixed with black soap (2 tablespoons per liter).

This year, in our garden, having read that their presence could promote fruiting, we let them be. Quickly, we noticed the presence of ladybugs. They were not numerous enough, of course, but the harvest was quite satisfactory even though, it must be admitted, the pods were black and rather sticky! In the end, we enjoyed them, and we think that ladybugs are now more numerous in the garden because there is not a single aphid on our Nasturtiums.