The tender beans became popular as a vegetable with a short-lived season often associated with peas. Both vegetables shared the gardens of our grandmothers who brought home fresh pods to eat almost raw together with ham. Sometimes they fried the ham. The crunchy texture and sweet flavour with a hint of bitterness, together with the salty and umami of the ham produced one of the great sensations of Mediterranean springtime.
Though baby broad beans started out as a legume with a diminished green colour, they have influenced some of the best Spanish cuisine from the gardens of Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and Catalonia. In fact, every year during Epiphany one lucky person will discover the bean in their roulade (sweet festive bread for King’s Day) and end up having to pay for the celebratory bread. We must remember that broad beans are pulses, almost even an oil nuts.
Andalucía, Baleares and Cataluña