Week 31: Pickled Fava Beans

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. After finding no actual recipes for pickled fava beans (the closest thing I found was this equally delish-looking marinated fava bean recipe), I decided to go back to my mom’s tried-and-true quickle brine*, plus a few added accoutrements for more flavor. Fa-vary happy with how these turned out.

*Confessions of an avid pickler: I always have at least a 1-liter bottle full of this brine for pickling cucumbers or other veggies that are losing their fresh produce luster. So while I don’t have the exact broken down measurements of the smaller proportion needed for this recipe, I recommend just making a ton of the brine and keeping it for whenever the pickling mood strikes.

Helpful guide here on how to clean and prep fava beans. I actually skipped the recommended blanching to remove the outer coating since I figured the pickling would mask any flavor from the coating. They taste great to me!

Pickled Fava Bean Recipe

Makes 1 pint

Ingredients:

• 1 cup “quickle brine“
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 4 sprigs dill
• 1 cup of shelled fava, or broad, beans (1.5 lbs of beans when still in their pods)

Instructions:

• If you don’t already have brine on hand, bring water, vinegar, sugar and salt to a boil until fully dissolved. Set aside to cool.
• Peel the beans by pulling off the top and “unzipping” the seam. Remove the beans – I found there to be about 3 to 5 per pod.

• Fill jar with half of the dill and all garlic cloves and spices.

• Fill jar with peeled and rinsed fava beans. Add remaining sprigs of dill on top.

• Fill jar with the brine and fully cover all of the other ingredients.
• Recommended use: Refrigerate and they’re good to go after a few days. Great on their own or in salads.