They look great Nanelle! Especially the purple flushed ones. Have you tasted either variety yet? What is the first thing you will make using them?

curious Angelina.

Thanks!I believe the purple flushed are the Maitake. Have I tasted them yet? Are you kidding me? I've eaten them so quickly I didn't bother to check which was which. I really have to pay attention I suppose, but I was DESPERATE for fresh garlic.I've probably cooked four or five things with them, among them honey-pepper salad dressing and various fava bean recipes (harvested WAY too many of those).

Well, send some of those fava beans my way if you have too many! I harvested all of mine and froze a few packages but I wish I had gotten way more because my friend and I just tried this great dish from Georgianne Brennan's "Potager" cookbook that uses 2 lbs of favas and a ton of small artichokes, it was SOOOOO good!!

Out of curiosity, how big of a bed of favas did you plant and about how many lbs did you harvest?

Angelina.

I planted 1 and 1/2 4'X8' raised beds with two or three varieties. It wasn't so much that I had more favas than I could eat ,it was that I had more favas than i could handle when they were ready(one day I harvested two five pound bags). Favas take a lot of work and don't keep for long so 10 pounds over about four days was a bit much. I had harvested a pound here and there during a few weeks prior, but my real goal was to have the beds ready for summer crops so I pulled out most of a whole 4'X8' bed at once. I'd be guessing but I'd say maybe 20 pounds of beans I wanted to eat. I got pretty picky about what size bean I wanted for what dish. After several days of shelling, parboiling, picking and peeling favas, I got another few pounds from a farm I subscribe to!