Fava bean shoots

Vicia faba · Vegetable

40 pairings

Fava bean shoots (Vicia faba), known in Chinese kitchens as dou ban miao (蚕豆苗), are the tender growing tips of the broad-bean plant — the top few centimetres of soft new stem carrying paired oval leaflets of a pale, dusty grey-green. Sweet, faintly nutty and clean with the vegetal character of the young bean, they are a prized seasonal green: flash stir-fried with garlic across eastern and southern China, and gathered as a wild-tasting spring pot-herb around the Mediterranean where the broad bean has grown since antiquity.

Picking a good onedrag

Springy, grey-green, tips standingYellow, limp, slimy at the tie

Market freshThe all-rounder: screaming-hot wok with garlic, or barely wilted into soup. Cooking removes neither the favism risk nor the broad-bean allergen - it is the same plant as the bean.Everyday best

Leaf and crownGrey-green, crown opened out, leaflets flat and whole

The liftStands, then the tips bow over slowly

Stem snapSnaps near the tip only, lower stem bends

Smell at the bunchFaintly green, almost nothing close up

What to look for, from springy, grey-green, tips standing to yellow, limp, slimy at the tie.

Preparing