Wordless Wednesday – Field Beans in the Borders?

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These are field beans (Vicia faba) growing just behind our house. I’d always heard that they were used as cattle fodder, but apparently we export a fair proportion to North Africa for human consumption. Yielding twice the weight of broad beans, they would seem to be a good thing, except for considerations of small bean size and a little more bitterness in their flavour.

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You can smell a bean field a mile away as they scent the air with a delicious perfume, reminiscent of  apples and vanilla custard with a twist of pepper.

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This year the flowers seem to be much pinker and prettier than usual, with marked venation … almost garden-worthy.

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It may be a bit like cloud spotting, but to me the flower clusters look just like floaty-tailed Bettas (aka fighting fish). Can you see it?

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About Frogend_dweller

Living in the damp middle of nowhere
This entry was posted in Food, Wordless and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Wordless Wednesday – Field Beans in the Borders?

  1. Christina says:

    Yes! You’re right

  2. Eliza Waters says:

    Yes, little bettas!

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