THE CHINESE BEANS - Growing Chinese Vegetables in Your Own Backyard - page 60

Fava Bean
C AN D OU , T SAAM D OU
Vicia faba
(color photo, page xi)
The fava is only distantly related to limas, green beans, kidneys, and other beans. Its
closest relative is vetch, and its Latin genus name shows this: Vicia rather than Phase-
olus or Vigna. But for all practical culinary purposes, fava is a true bean. It looks like
a bean, grows like a bean, dries like a bean, and for thousands of years it was the only
bean known to European kitchens. It is also called broad bean.