Okay, what the heck are favas anyway? These oversized legumes look like they time travelled straight from the Jurassic. Fava beans are one of the only vegetable food crops double as a cover crop. They can be planted in the off-season to suppress weed growth and fix nitrogen. We don’t use them as a cover crop, however, due to the enormous seed size and therefore proportionately enormous volume of seed required to sow a field. On the other hand, their usefulness in the kitchen shouldn’t be overlooked, as their tender and nutty flavor goes great in several cuisines. Favas originate in the eastern Mediterranean and are considered one of the oldest cultivated crops. They were the only bean grown in the Europe before the arrival of American beans after 1492. 
There is some debate over how to prepare fava beans. While most parts of the plant are edible to some degree, the culinary prize is the seed of the pod, (hereafter referred to as the beans). Some claim you can eat the beans with the waxy skins on if they are young and tender, but the majority opinion is to remove the skins before consumption, especially if the beans are mature and filling the pod (as they are in your share).
Remove the skin of each bean, you say? How tedious! Well, yes, this food is indeed a labor of love, however there are a few hacks to speed the process. Once removed from the pods, we like to blanch the beans in boiling water for one minutes and the drain. This will allow the beans to more easily slip from their skins. Another method is to soak the beans (removed from pods) overnight before skinning them.
Once podded and skinned, now you’re ready to prepare them in a dish. From here, you can steam them until tender and toss them in a mixture of salt, olive oil, and lemon juice. You can also grill them, or mash them and spread them on bruschetta, or fold them into mashed potatoes. They’re also a great addition to a green salad, a risotto dish, or pasta. You really can’t go wrong, as they’re delicious on their own with a bit of salt!