Last of the broad bean show

After a shaky start it turned out to be a good year for our broad beans. Allied to the fact that Rich DOESN’T LIKE THEM and I’ve been feeding the family fava beans all summer. But their time is now spent.* The stems have been chucked on the compost, the roots left in the ground where they’ll enrich the soil with nitrogen, and a final round up of beans have been picked. These include the traditional end of year mutants:

• Those that have a solitary bean bulging at the end of a withered pod

• A few which have lost a chunk to wildlife and looked too unpleasant to pick earlier

• And, of course, the ones that simply passed the picker’s gaze and are now to old and fat for a regular meal

But all of these rejects are perfectly acceptable fodder for one last fava blast in the kitchen – a savoury dip we’ll call ‘broad bean hummus’.

Our broad bean hummus recipe
Boil your mutant beans until tender and wrinkly.
Allow to cool then peel away and discard the skins (not as fiddly as it sounds).
Whizz up with a blender (or aggressive fork) adding olive oil until you reach a consistency you’re happy with.
Add your preferred flavouring and seasoning then give a final whizz before serving.
Besides salt and pepper I like to add a squirt of lemon and the merest scraping of crushed garlic.
You could try mint or parsley for a bit of herby freshness or, if you want to be more adventurous, cumin and paprika would give it a North African twist.

It will keep in the fridge for a few days and makes a perfect snack with pitta when friends come round. But best not invite Rich…

Seeds sown: Broad bean ‘karmazyn’, Suttons seeds.
We also planted a row of beans we got cheap at a car boot sale but the variety is unknown.

*Apart from two plants that must’ve forgotten to grow earlier in the year and are now displaying young pods and flowers.