To cut the leaves into a chiffonade, working in batches, stack the mint leaves, roll them up lengthwise, and cut thinly crosswise to create narrow feathery strips.

Fava Beans:

While fava beans, known as broad beans in England, call for considerable preparation, often requiring both shelling and peeling, they are worth it! Thanks to their availability in farmer’ markets across America, favas have become a springtime prize for passionate cooks, who scatter them over a fillet of salmon, toss them in a salad with bits of crisp pancetta, or puree them and spread them on toast. Such dishes showcase an ancient staple, and one of the few legumes, along with lentils and possibly chickpeas, native to the Mediterranean.

Pythagoras, the sixth-century B.C. Greek mathematician and philosopher, condemned favas as containing the souls of the dead, while most likely they were just the cause of a rumbling stomach. Oddly, some people of Mediterranean descent suffer from favism, a type of anemia brought on by eating the very bean that is native to their land.

Favas have adapted well to the Mediterranean climate of California. They provide a valuable nitrogen-producing ground cover that reinvigorates the soil, especially during winter when little water is required. At Eatwell Farm near Dixon, Nigel Walker, who grows some of the best fava beans at the market, does what all savvy fava farmers do: he inoculates the seeds with soil bacteria commonly known as Rhizobium before planting them, which helps enrich the soil with nitrogen, giving the next crop cultivated in the same ground a good nutrient boost.

Season:

Early spring through early summer.

Choosing:

Seek firm, bright green, plump, smooth, flexible pods without lots of brown spots. Feel the pods along their length to make sure they are filled with beans. Older beans are bigger and starchier (they are good for puréeing).

1 pound fava beans in the pod yields about 1 cup shelled and peeled beans.

Storing:

The longer you keep fava beans, the more their sugars turn to starch, so it is best to eat them as soon as possible after purchase. Slip the pods into a plastic bag and keep in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator for no more than a few days.

Preparing:

Remove the beans from the pod as you do peas from a pod, stripping off the tough string and then prodding the pod open with your thumb. When you’ve amassed a pile, drop them into. A small pot of salted boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and plunge immediately into ice water to stop the cooking and to keep the beans bright green. Drain again and use your fingers to slip the skin off each bean. If the favas are very young, small, and tender, you can skip the peeling.