Finding things surprising

After more than 2 years of plotting, scheming, dreaming, and damn hard work to get Norwich FarmShare up and running, it does seem quite strange to finally have it here.

And now it's here and the food is flowing in I find there's just one thing on my mind: how exactly does one learn to love broad beans?

Finding out that the slightly tough, slightly bitter coating of beans that are any bigger than the tiniest ones does in fact come off helps a great deal.

The bright-green bean that pops out when you nick the skin and squeeze is really quite nice: now all those recipes for broad bean salads make sense.

Finding out that fava beans and broad beans are the same thing helps too: that means that loads of delicious sounding middle-eastern recipes can be conjured up from google.

Learning that falafel in Egypt are made from broad beans, not chick peas, leads me down another recipe path. And then I find I'm looking at my pile of podded beans (so much smaller than that mound of beans in their pods!) and wondering if there are enough to make all of these recipes, or do I have to choose just one?

For more broad bean recipe ideas, see the Norwich FarmShare blog