Broad bean (fava)
Vicia faba
Botanical family: Fabaceae
A robust legume (Vicia faba), sown in autumn in a mild climate (November) or from February to April elsewhere. Pinch out the tops when the first pods appear, this limits the pressure of black aphids and encourages fruit set. Harvest the pods in May-June, shelling them young and tender for the palate.
Full sun
Tolerant, prefers rich and cool soil
Moderate
Hardy (-8 °C winter varieties)
Protect over winter in your zone
Mostly self-pollinating, but bees and bumblebees clearly increase the crop
One plant is enough for a crop
Role in permaculture
A nitrogen-fixing legume (Rhizobium symbiosis), to be dug in as green manure before it goes to seed or left for the harvest of the pods. One of the oldest crops of the Mediterranean basin, found in Neolithic sites.
Good companions
Attract pollinators and beneficial insects
Poor companions
Insects attracted or useful
Known pests & diseases
Pests and diseases that commonly affect this plant, tap to learn how to recognise and manage them.
Seasons & availability
A short spring season, from May to July.
Available: May, June, July.
Guidance for the oceanic / temperate climate; it may vary with your region, altitude, exposure and growing method.
Sources
- RHS, « How to Grow Broad beans » (rhs.org.uk/vegetables/broad-beans/grow-your-own)
- La Ferme de Sainte Marthe, « Réussir la culture de la fève » (fermedesaintemarthe.com/en/blogs/comment-reussir-la-culture-de/reussir-la-culture-de-la-feve)
- Garden Organic, « Broad Bean » (gardenorganic.org.uk/expert-advice/how-to-grow/growing-guides/vegetables-herbs-guides/how-to-grow-broad-bean)
Nutritional & medicinal properties
For educational purposes. Not a substitute for medical advice. Effects depend on the form, the dose and personal context.
Precautions & contraindications
A rare but real risk of favism: eating them can trigger a haemolytic crisis, sometimes severe, in people carrying a G6PD deficiency. This deficiency is the most common hereditary enzyme defect (more than 400 million people, mostly in regions where malaria is or was present; it is more common around the Mediterranean rim, in the Middle East, and in some parts of Africa). Not to be confused with a simple allergy. The compounds responsible are the vicine and convicine present in the seed (INRAE work; WHO fact sheets on G6PD deficiency). Moreover, the broad bean naturally contains L-DOPA (levodopa): in case of treatment for Parkinson's disease or with MAOIs, medical advice is recommended before eating it regularly. Finally, like all legumes, the dry seeds are eaten cooked, and prior soaking improves their digestibility. Sources: Beretta A., Manuelli M., Cena H. (2023), “Favism: Clinical Features at Different Ages”, Nutrients 15(2):343; Cappellini M. D., Fiorelli G. (2008), “Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency”, The Lancet 371(9606):64-74.
Family behaviour: Legumes
In general, Legumes fix nitrogen from the air in most cases, thanks to the Rhizobium in their root nodules. They mainly enrich the soil for the following crops, as their residues decompose. Ideal in a rotation, before nitrogen-hungry plants such as nightshades.
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Species & varieties
The best-known species and varieties in France.
Common varieties
Voices of peoples
Paraphrases attributed to their documented sources. Never an invented quote.
The Pythagorean school · Magna Graecia (southern Italy), 6th–5th centuries BC
The disciples of Pythagoras were forbidden to eat broad beans, a rule as famous as it was puzzling to the Greeks themselves. The hypotheses are many: funerary symbolism (the beans contained the souls of the dead), a taboo of ritual purification, or, on a modern reading, empirical knowledge of favism, common around the Mediterranean. The journey between superstition and traditional knowledge remains open.
Diogène Laërce, Vies, doctrines et sentences des philosophes illustres, livre VIII, IIIᵉ siècle ; pour la lecture moderne via le favisme : Robert S. Brumbaugh & Jessica Schwartz, « Pythagoras and the Beans: A Medical Explanation », Classical World, vol. 73 (1980), p. 421-422.