Chapter 81 Short Story: Fresh and Lively Fava Beans

The Fava beans are ready!

I love fava beans.

As the name suggests, the pods first ripen facing the sky. They are harvested when they have matured and are hanging down. The firmness of the pods when touched is also important.

“If you just tell me, I’ll pick them right away,”

Kirara says with a laugh, helping me with the harvest without using magic.

That’s right. If I ask Kirara, she can harvest in an instant. I always ask for her help, but I want to harvest at least enough by myself to eat. Because, even though it’s hard work, it’s the most satisfying and enjoyable part of the job.

How should I eat them? I think I’ll boil it in salt water first.

Memories of biting into dry, very hard roasted fava beans from when I was little come back. I remember my dad loved them. And when I told my mom about this, she shared a shocking nostalgic story.

Apparently, when she was little, my mom would put fava beans in a bag, and tie it to her swimsuit being going to the beach. By the time she got tired from playing and returned to the shore, the beans had become slightly soft and salty from the seawater, and she enjoyed eating them then.

What?! Is there really a way to eat it like that?

I wondered if it was a unique regional way of eating it, so I looked into it, and surprisingly, I found similar stories from other places, which was a double surprise.

It’s so fascinating that such customs existed in various regions.

Fava beans are very delicious, but when you see the price they sell for at the supermarket, you’ll be shocked. They’re expensive.

Even growing them in a home garden can be costly because the seeds are pricey. I did the math and was surprised to find that each seed came out to about 40 yen. The seeds I planted and grew this time were those same ones, so I didn’t plant that many. But they grew really well, and I had a bountiful harvest. 

This was something called “Something Issun” that we often bought back home – it had a name that sounded like it would give you back pain. True to its name “Issun,” the beans were huge.

We also used to grow and eat red fava beans every year, which we then kept for seeds.

Unfortunately, we can no longer eat the red fava beans that we used to save seeds from.

I also tried to collect seeds from the “something Issun” variety, but because the fruit is large, it is prone to rot and mold, making it quite difficult to collect the seeds—especially since the rainy season coincides with the seeds drying period.

Now, I’m peeling the pods of the harvested fava beans. For this, I use a handy citrus peeler tool that can be purchased at 100 yen stores.

Truth be told, I’d love to use the real deal. I really would. But due to my thousand-yen repeat budget constraints, I bought the dollar store knockoff instead.

When I saw it at the store, I thought, “Is this okay? It looks really similar!” I already had two original ones at home, but I bought this one as a spare because we eat a lot of citrus fruits and I tend to lose small items.

This is a tool for peeling citrus fruits, especially for cutting off the thin skin of large citrus fruits. It has a cutter blade in the middle, which makes cutting easy.

Although it’s mainly for use with citrus fruits, using this tool makes it extremely easy to cut into fava bean pods.

I was so impressed when I saw this trick online. I immediately tried it, and it was incredibly simple to make cuts. Amazing! All the effort I used to put into peeling with a knife—what was that for?

When removing the beans from the pods, practice peeling the thick citrus skin with this tool comes very useful. But honestly, since you can just twist the pod to get them out, it’s not that impressive.

Anyway, for households that eat a lot of large citrus fruits, this tool makes peeling them so much easier. I think they should buy this tool—Mimi absolutely loves its name. And for households that love Fava beans too, I think it’d be great to have one too!

By sliding the fava beans into the groove of the tool, you can make quick cuts—super fast and fun.

It’s so easy that I even had Mimi try it too.

“Can you take them out of the pods—you just poke it in and give it a shush like this?” I ask.

“Got it,” she replies silently, swiping quickly. So fast! She peels faster than I can keep up.

In no time, the fava beans are prepped.

Using a handy tool really speeds things up. It’s amazing.

Then I lay out the cooked fava beans to eat.

“Boiled with salt, it’s the best!” 

Kirara says happily.

Salted boiled fava beans are the perfect simple way to enjoy them.

　

Well, young fava beans are smooth and shiny, which makes them great, while mature ones have this satisfying crunchy texture that’s also nice—both are delicious. The salt really brings out their sweetness, which is great. They’re so tasty I could eat endless amounts.

I also love roasting the pods whole until they are almost black and charred—there’s something irresistible about them that way. I can’t quite explain. All I can say is it’s just delicious.

Mimi says, “I like how soft and fluffy they are.”

It seems Mimi really likes beans.

Yes, they’re high in protein. Let’s eat lots of edamame in a little while too.

I personally love sweet and spicy simmered fava beans.

I cook them with sugar, mirin, and soy sauce—just a bit sweet. It’s a kind of simmered dish where the well-cooked, fluffy beans absorb the flavors.

The slits allow the flavor to soak in well, and the soft, fluffy parts are cooked until they become crumbly and delicious. It’s kind of like outer part of meat and potato stew where the potatoes break down a little and mix with the broth—so tasty. I also like adding fava beans to meat and potatoes stew. It adds color to the dish.

“Yum,” I say, smiling happily as I eat.

Bean season is short-lived, so once beans start to be harvested, it’s all about beans, all the time.

But that’s part of the fun. Being able to eat fava beans until you’re tired of them—that’s true happiness.

By the way, I used to love the old story about why the black part of the fava bean’s seed coat is black.

It’s a somewhat surreal story when I think about it— but when I was little I really loved the story of the fava bean laughing so hard that it snapped and a crack appeared, and then the crack was sewn up with black thread, and every time I saw the black part of the bean I would imagine that it must have been sewn up with really thick, black thread.

While I was thinking about this, Mimi missed her bite and dropped the bean she was eating. The beans rolled around.

“Oh, it’s so fresh,” I say, picking it up.

“Mmm, sorry. Fresh?” Mimi asks.

In our family, whenever food is spilled, we’d always say, “Well, it’s fresh, so it can’t be helped.” 　 

It’s kind of funnier than just saying, “You spilled it again!”

It’s not just that the food was spilled; it’s because the beans were so lively, they bounced away.

“It’s because the fava beans are so fresh and lively that they’re bouncing around,” I laugh.

“Interesting, even though they’re already cooked,” Kirara said, laughing too.

“I see. They’re freshly picked,” Mimi agrees, impressed by how lively the fava beans are. I’m glad Mimi, who was a little down about dropping the beans, is smiling again.

Yes, since the beans rolled away, we should laugh. Wait—do we laugh when chopsticks roll? Oh well.

Let’s all laugh until the pods crack open loudly.

I’m not very good at sewing, though.

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