Nutrition

The Broad Bean Bandwagon

WORDS RACHEL HART | IMAGE ASHLEE DECAIRES

The first pop of green to grace your plate is a welcome sight after winter’s heavy, hearty fare. And one of the best, albeit most underrated, vegetables of spring is the humble broad bean. Tossed into a salad, roasted as a snack, or blended into a dip – there are plenty of ways to jump on the broad bean bandwagon this season!

Broad beans are a legume; a group of plants including lentils, beans, peas, soybeans and peanuts. Like many of their legume relatives, broad beans bring an earthy flavour, a bit of crunch, and a whole lot of nutrition to any dish. Today they can be found all over the world, but broad beans originally come from the Middle East. In fact, they have the impressive status of being one of the world’s first foods to ever be cultivated. Compared to their cousin the sweet pea, broad beans look overgrown and flattened. Eating them takes more work too: you first remove the outer pod – called the doddle – then squeeze the dull green skin, freeing the vibrant broad bean hidden inside. This double podding can make broad beans feel intimidating, but they are worth the effort. Broad beans are an excellent source of plant-based protein, making them both healthy for you and sustainable for the planet. A single cup of the beans will give you a third of your daily protein quota. And that’s not all; that same serving offers onethird of your target fibre content, too. If it seems like every food touted as ‘healthy’ contains fibre, that’s because they usually do. Found in fruit, vegetables, grains and legumes, fibre improves digestion and gut health, stabilises blood sugar levels and keeps you full for longer, which helps with weight. Alongside all that protein and fibre, broad beans also offer a decent dose of many vitamins, from A to C to K. But they are notably high in folate, a B vitamin necessary for growth and development. Broad beans are great for your bones too, containing many bone-strengthening minerals like manganese, copper and phosphorus. They also support your heart and immune systems by providing iron, zinc and potassium. But of course, everything comes at a cost. “Beans, beans, they’re good for the heart …” If you know the end of this rhyme, you’ll know where I’m headed. There are, unfortunately, side effects to eating too many beans, and broad beans are no exception. They can cause bloating and gas, so it’s wise to introduce broad beans into your diet slowly rather than diving straight into the deep end. Another strange side effect of broad beans is called favism. Broad beans – also called fava beans – can cause shortness of breath and raise heart rates in people with a genetic disorder known as G6PD. This reaction is experienced by over 400 million people around the world. So long as you’re not one of these unlucky ones, this broad bean foodie trend is one to follow this spring!

Rachel Hart

Hailing from Canada, Rachel has fallen in love with life in the beautiful Bay of Plenty where she is a freelance writer with a passion for healthy food. She splits her time between telling people’s stories, creating web content and experimenting in the kitchen.

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