Broad Bean Risotto with Asparagus: A Final Spring Risotto

As summer approaches, a recipe for broad bean and asparagus risotto is offered as a way to celebrate the last of spring's bounty. The dish features both asparagus, a clear star, and the often-underestimated broad bean.

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Broad beans are a real spring joy vegetable for me. But they also taste great when summer is almost here.

Broad beans, or fava beans, are described as a delightful spring vegetable that retains its flavor well into the early summer. Despite being one of the oldest cultivated plants, the bean is not widely appreciated, leading to potential preparation mishaps. The author notes that overcooking them can render them almost inedible, a characteristic that might justify their colloquial name, "Saubohne" (pig bean).

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If you cook them too long, they become (almost) inedible, so the name Saubohne fits quite well.

Drawing on insights from her French mother and Italian mother-in-law, the author shares that in their cultures, broad beans were historically viewed as a lesser food item, primarily associated with animal feed. This historical perception, the article suggests, contributes to their less common status in modern cuisine.

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the broad bean, or Saubohne, was considered an inferior food in their cultures and was primarily known as pig feed.