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Fava beans

Vicia faba
Illustration Vicia faba1.jpg
Vicia faba plants in flower
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Tribe: Vicieae
Genus: Vicia
Species: V. faba
Binomial name
Vicia faba
L.
Synonyms

Faba sativa Moench.

Fava beans, mature seeds, raw
Vifa 001 lhp.jpg
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 1,425 kJ (341 kcal)
58.29 g
Dietary fiber 25 g
1.53 g
26.12 g
Vitamins
Thiamine (B1)
(48%)
0.555 mg
Riboflavin (B2)
(28%)
0.333 mg
Niacin (B3)
(19%)
2.832 mg
Vitamin B6
(28%)
0.366 mg
Folate (B9)
(106%)
423 μg
Vitamin C
(2%)
1.4 mg
Vitamin K
(9%)
9 μg
Minerals
Calcium
(10%)
103 mg
Iron
(52%)
6.7 mg
Magnesium
(54%)
192 mg
Manganese
(77%)
1.626 mg
Phosphorus
(60%)
421 mg
Potassium
(23%)
1062 mg
Sodium
(1%)
13 mg
Zinc
(33%)
3.14 mg

Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient Database

Faba sativa Moench.

Vicia faba, also known as the broad bean, fava bean, faba bean, field bean, bell bean, English bean, horse bean, Windsor bean, pigeon bean and tic(k) bean, is a species of flowering plant in the vetch and pea family Fabaceae. The origin of this legume is obscure, but it had been cultivated in the Middle East for 8,000 years before it spread to Western Europe. Fava beans have been found in the earliest human settlements. They probably originated in the Near East during the Neolithic Age and by the Bronze Age had spread to Northern Italy. They have been found in lakeside settlements in Switzerland and in Britain at Glastonbury. Remains are reported to have been found in Egyptian tombs. In Egypt, the beans were considered commoner food and were shunned by the upper classes. Fava beans were cultivated by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. In ancient Rome, they were used in funeral rites. Like all priests of the Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries who were forbidden from ever touching, mentioning, or looking at Fava beans, Pythagoras forbade his followers from doing the same and some claimed that it was due to his belief that fava beans contained the souls of the dead. This once forbidden bean is also related to favism, a genetic deficiency most commonly affecting people of Mediterranean origins. Initiates of the Eleusinian mysteries where studies were done on a ritual that transmogrified participants were said to have a death-like experience after ingesting the kykeon and would then pass by the home of Kyamites, the Greek demigod of Fava beans.

In parts of the English-speaking world, the name "broad bean" is used for the large-seeded cultivars grown for human food, while "horse bean" and "field bean" refer to cultivars with smaller, harder seeds (more like the wild species) used for animal feed, though their stronger flavour is preferred in some human food recipes, such as falafel. The term "fava bean" (from the Italian fava, meaning "broad bean") is used in other English-speaking countries such as the United States. "Broad bean" is the most common name in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.


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