Vicia faba

This article refers to the Broad Bean plant. For Broadbean the company, see Broadbean, Inc.

Vicia faba, the Broad Bean, Fava Bean, Field Bean, Bell Bean or Tic Bean, is a species of bean (Fabaceae) native to north Africa and southwest Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere. A variety is provisionally recognized:

• Vicia faba var. equina Pers. – Horse Bean

Although usually classified in the same genus Vicia as the vetches, some botanists treat it in a separate monotypic genus Faba.

Composition

It is a rigid, erect plant 0.5-1.8 m tall, with stout stems with a square cross-section. The leaves are 10–25 cm long, pinnate with 2-7 leaflets, and of a distinct glaucous grey-green color; unlike most other vetches, the leaves do not have tendrils for climbing over other vegetation. The flowers are 1-2.5 cm long, with five petals, the standard petal white, the wing petals white with a black spot (true black, not deep purple or blue as is the case in many "black" colorings^[1]), and the keel petals white. Crimson flowered broad beans also exist, which were recently saved from extinction.^[2] The fruit is a broad leathery pod, green maturing to blackish-brown, with a densely downy surface; in the wild species, the pods are 5–10 cm long and 1 cm diameter, but many modern cultivars developed for food use have pods 15–25 cm long and 2–3 cm thick. Each pod contains 3-8 seeds; round to oval and 5–10 mm diameter in the wild plant, usually flattened and up to 20–25 mm long, 15 mm broad and 5–10 mm thick in food cultivars. Vicia faba has a diploid (2n) chromosome number of 12 (6 homologous pairs). Five pairs are acrocentric chromosomes and 1 pair is metacentric.

Cultivation

Broad beans have a long tradition of cultivation in Old World agriculture, being among the most ancient plants in cultivation and also among the easiest to grow. It is believed that along with lentils, peas, and chickpeas, they became part of the eastern Mediterranean diet in around 6000 BC or earlier. They are still often grown as a cover crop to prevent erosion, because they can over-winter and because as a legume, they fix nitrogen in the soil. These commonly cultivated plants can be attacked by fungal diseases, such as rust (Uromyces viciae-fabae) and chocolate spot (Botrytis fabae). It is also attacked by the black bean aphid (Aphis fabae).

The broad bean has high hardiness cvs. This means it can withstand rough climates, and in this case, cold ones. Unlike most legumes, the broad bean can be grown in soils with high salinity. However, it does prefer to grow in rich loams.

In much of the Anglophone world, the name broad bean is used for the large-seeded cultivars grown for human food, while horse bean and field bean refer to cultivars with smaller, harder seeds (more like the wild species) used for animal feed, though their stronger flavour is preferred in some human food recipes, such as falafel. The term fava bean (from the Italian fava, meaning "broad bean") is usually used in English speaking countries such as the US, however the term broad bean is the most common name in the UK.

Culinary uses

Broad beans are eaten while still young and tender, enabling harvesting to begin as early as the middle of spring for plants started under glass or over-wintered in a protected location, but even the main crop sown in early spring will be ready from mid to late summer. Horse beans, left to mature fully, are usually harvested in the late autumn. The young leaves of the plant can also be eaten either raw or cooked like spinach.

Preparing favas involves first removing the beans from their pods, then parboiling the beans to loosen their exterior coating, and removing that before cooking.

The beans can be fried, causing the skin to split open, and then salted and/or spiced to produce a savory crunchy snack. These are popular in China, Colombia, Peru (habas saladas), Mexico (habas con chile), Gilan (North of Iran) and Thailand (where their name means "open-mouth nut").

Broad bean purée with wild chicory is a typical Puglian dish in Italy.

In the Sichuan cuisine of China, broad beans are combined with soybeans and chili peppers to produce a spicy fermented bean paste called doubanjiang.

Fava bean is one of the typical dishes of North of Iran (Gilan), specially in the village of Foshtom near Rasht. It is cooked with garlic dill weed, olive oil and duck eggs. In the city of Rasht it is cooked similarly but the duck eggs is replaced by egg and olive oil is replaced by butter.

In most Arab countries, the fava bean is used for a breakfast dish called ful medames.

Fava beans are common in Latin American cuisines as well. In central Mexico, mashed fava beans are a common filling for many corn flour-based antojito snacks such as tlacoyos. In Colombia they are most often used whole in vegetable soups. Dried and salted fava beans are a popular snack in many Latin countries.

In Portugal, a fava bean (usually referred to as fava in Portuguese) is included in the bolo-rei (king cake), a Christmas cake. Traditionally, the person who gets fava has to buy the cake the following year.

In the Netherlands, they are traditionally eaten with fresh savory and some melted butter. When rubbed the velvet insides of the pods are a folk remedy against warts.

Broad beans are widely cultivated in the Kech and Panjgur districts of Balochistan Province in Pakistan, and in the eastern province of Iran. In the Balochi language, they are called bakalaink, and baghalee in Persian.

Judd mat Gaardebounen or Smoked Collar of Pork with Broad Beans is the national dish of Luxembourg.^[3]

Iran

Broad beans are primarily cultivated in the central & north part of Iran. The city of Kashan has the highest production of broad beans with high quality in terms of the taste, cooking periods and color. However, broad beans have a very short season (roughly two weeks.) The season is usually in the middle of spring. When people have access to fresh beans in season, they cook them in brine and then add vinegar and Heracleum persicum depending on taste. They also make an extra amount to dry to be used year round. The dried beans can be cooked with rice, which forms one of the most famous dishes in north of Iran (Gilan) called baghalee polo (Persian : باقالی پلو) which means rice with broad bean. In Iran broad beans are cooked, served with Golpar-origan and salt and sold on streets in the winter. This food is also available preserved in metal cans. Fava bean is one of the typical dishes of North of Iran (Gilan), specially in the village of Foshtom near Rasht. The dish is called Baghala Ghatogh (باقلا قاتوق ) in Gilaki language or Bagela Khorosh ( باقلا خوروش ) in Farsi. In Foshtom it is cooked with garlic, dill weed, olive oil and duck eggs. In the city of Rasht it is cooked similarly but the duck eggs is replaced by egg and olive oil is replaced by butter.

Egypt

Fava beans (Arabic: فول) are a common staple food in the Egyptian diet, eaten by rich and poor alike. Egyptians eat fava beans in various ways: they may be shelled and then dried, bought dried and then cooked by adding water in very low heat for several hours, etc. They are the primary ingredient in Ta`meyyah (Arabic: طعميه) (Egyptian Arabic for falafel). However, the most popular way of preparing fava beans in Egypt is by taking the mashed, cooked beans and adding oil, garlic, lemon, salt and cumin to it. It is then eaten with bread. The dish, known as ful medames, is traditionally eaten with onions (generally at breakfast) and is considered the Egyptian national dish.

Greece

Broad beans (Greek: κουκιά, koukiá) are eaten in a stew combined with artichokes, while they are still fresh in their pod. Dried broad beans are eaten boiled, sometimes combined with garlic sauce (skordalia). In Crete fresh broad beans are shelled and eaten as companion to tsikoudia, the local alcoholic drink. Favism is quite common in Greece because of malaria endemicity in previous centuries, and people afflicted by it do not eat broadbeans.

The Greek word fáva (φάβα) does not refer to broadbeans, but to the yellow split pea and also to the legume Lathyrus sativus, either of which are boiled with salt to the local variety of pease pudding, also called fáva. This creamy fáva is then served hot or cold, sprinkled with olive oil and garnished with a variety of condiments and seasonings such as diced onion, capers, parsley, pepper, lemon juice, etc.

Ethiopia

Broad beans (Amharic: baqueella) are one of the most popular legumes in Ethiopia. Broad beans are tightly coupled with every aspect of Ethiopian life. They are mainly used as an alternative to peas to prepare a flour called shiro, which is used to make shiro wot (a stew almost ubiquitous in Ethiopian dishes). During the fasting period in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church tradition called filliseta (which is in August), two uncooked spicy vegetable dishes are made using broad beans. The first is elibet, a thin white paste of broad bean flour mixed with pieces of onion, green pepper, garlic, and other spices based on personal taste. The second is silijou, a fermented, sour, spicy, thin, yellow paste of broad bean flour. Both are served with other stews and injera (a pancake-like bread) during lunch and dinner.

Baqueella nifro (boiled broad beans) are eaten like a snack during some holidays and during a time of mourning. Interestingly, this tradition goes well in to religious holidays too. On the Thursday before Good Friday, in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church tradition tselote hamus (the Prayer of Thursday), people eat a different kind of nifro called gulban. Gulban is made of peeled, half beans collected and well cooked with other grains like wheat, peas and chick peas. This is done to mourn the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Boq'ullit (boiled salted broad beans embryo) is one of the most favorite snacks in the evening, the common story-telling time in north and central Ethiopia. It is particularly a favorite for the story-teller (usually a society elder), as it is delicious, and easy to chew and swallow.

Last but not least, ripe broad beans from a broad beans crop are eaten by passers-by. Besides that, they are one of the gift items from a countryside relative in a period close to the Ethiopian Epiphany.

Nepal

In Nepal, fava beans are called Bakulla. It is eaten as a green vegetable when the pods are young. It generally stir fried with good amount of garlic. When dried, fava beans are eaten roasted, or mixed with other legumes like moong beans, chickpeas, peas and called Qwati. The mixture, soaked and germinated, is cooked as soup and consumed with rice or beaten rice on day of Raksha Bandhan or Rakhi. The dry and stir fried version of Qwati is called Biraula. It is believed that Qwati soup will reinvigorate the body affected by monsoon paddy season.

Health issues

Broad beans are rich in tyramine, and thus should be avoided by those taking monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors.

Raw broad beans contain the alkaloids vicine, isouramil and convicine, which can induce hemolytic anemia in patients with the hereditary condition glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (G6PD). This potentially fatal condition is called "favism" after the fava bean.^[4][5]

Broad beans are rich in L-dopa, a substance used medically in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. L-dopa is also a natriuretic agent, which might help in controlling hypertension.^[6]

Areas of origin of the bean correspond to malarial areas. There are epidemiological and in vitro studies which suggest that the hemolysis resulting from favism acts as protection from malaria, because certain species of malarial protozoa such as Plasmodium falcipacrum are very sensitive to oxidative damage due to deficiency of the glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase enzyme, which would otherwise protect from oxidative damage via production of glutathione reductase.^[7]

The seed testas contain condensed tannins^[8] of the proanthocyanidins type^[9] that could have an inhibitory activity on enzymes.^[10]

Nutritional information

Other uses

• In ancient Greece and Rome, beans were used in voting; a white bean being used to cast a yes vote, and a black bean for no. Even today the word koukia ( κουκιά) is used unofficially, referring to the votes.
• In Ubykh culture, throwing beans on the ground and interpreting the pattern in which they fall was a common method of divination (favomancy), and the word for "bean-thrower" in that language has become a generic term for seers and soothsayers in general.
• In ancient Greece and Rome, beans were used as a food for the dead, such as during the annual Lemuria festival.
• In some north European folk culture, such as the British Jack and the Beanstalk story as well as in Estonia, magical beans grow tall enough to bring the hero to the clouds.
• The colloquial expression 'not worth a bean' alludes to their widespread economy and association with the peasant diet.
• In Italy, broad beans are traditionally sown on November 2, All Souls Day. Small cakes made in the shape of broad beans (though not out of them) are known as fave dei morti or "beans of the dead". According to tradition, Sicily once experienced a failure of all crops other than the beans; the beans kept the population from starvation, and thanks were given to Saint Joseph. Broad beans subsequently became traditional on Saint Joseph's Day altars in many Italian communities. Some people carry a broad bean for good luck; some believe that if one carries a broad bean, one will never be without the essentials of life. In Rome, on the first of May, Roman families traditionally eat fresh fava beans with Pecorino Romano cheese during a daily excursion in the Campagna. In Northern Italy, on the contrary, fava beans are traditionally fed to animals and some people, especially the elderly, might frown on human consumption. But in Liguria, Northern Italy too, fava beans are loved like in Rome, and consumed fresh, alone or with fresh Pecorino Sardo or with local salami from Sant'Olcese. In some Central Italian regions, a once popular and recently rediscovered fancy food is the "bagiana", a soup of fresh or dried fava beans seasoned with onions and beet leaves stir fried, before being added to the soup, in olive oil and lard (or bacon or cured ham's fat).
• In Portugal, Spain and Catalunya a Christmas cake called Bolo Rei in Portuguese, Torta de Reyes in spanish and in Catalan is called Tortell de Reis, ("King cake") is baked with a fava bean inside. Whoever eats the slice containing it, is supposed to buy next year's cake.
• The Grimm Brothers collected a story in which a bean splits its sides laughing at the failure of others. Dreaming of a bean is sometimes said to be a sign of impending conflict, though others said that they caused bad dreams.
• Pliny claimed that they acted as a laxative.
• European folklore also claims that planting beans on Good Friday or during the night brings good luck.

Cultural references

• The ancient Roman family name Fabia and the modern political term Fabian derive from this particular bean.
• In the 1992 video game OutRunners, an anthropomorphic broad bean character is featured on billboards and the start of the game called "Broad Bean," a parody of Bibendum (the Michelin man), presumably the mascot of the fictional company sponsoring the race, Sam Spree.
• In the track "Godzilla" By Army of the Pharaohs, Vinnie Paz references fava beans by stating: "Eat your liver over fava beans and some warm rice".
• In the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter mentions that he once ate the liver of a census taker "with some fava beans and a nice Chianti." As a psychiatrist, he would know that he had named three of the "forbidden foods" for patients taking MAO inhibitors.
• Frederick E Rose (London) Ltd v William H Pim Junior & Co Ltd [1953] 2 QB 450, an English contract law case, where the two litigants had both mistaken feveroles for ordinary horse beans.
• The Pythagorean code prohibited the consumption or even touching of any sort of bean.

See also

• Phytoremediation plants
  • List of hyperaccumulators

References

External links

• Crop Wild Relatives Gap Analysis Portal reliable information source on where and what to conserve ex-situ, regarding Vicia genepool
• Fava beans and G6PD Deficiency information
• Vicia faba at Purdue University
• Alternative Field Crops Manual at Purdue University