If for 400 Italians are a real nightmare to their health due to the malfunction of an enzyme which can lead to acute non-immune anemia, i.e. the sudden destruction of red blood cells, a phenomenon known as favism, for millions of people in Southern and Northern European, East Asian, Latin American and North African broad beans represent historically a main food of human and animal nutrition, e in agriculture a fundamental practice to enrich the soil of plantations with nitrogen. As well as use in herbal medicine where the dried leaves of the plant are used as a natural remedy to stimulate diuresis.
A healthy mine: iron, potassium, magnesium, copper, selenium vitamins A, B, C
Rich in iron, potassium, magnesium, copper, selenium and many vitamins, especially ascorbic acid, the beans reveal in truth unexpected qualities for the well-being of our bodyexcept of course for the population suffering from favism.
On the Humanitas website, the properties of broad beans are exalted in all their nutritional and nutraceutical functions: "The broad beans are read - they help to promote the good functioning of the intestine providing a good amount of fiber, which can also help fight cardiovascular disease and diabetes by controlling the intestinal absorption of cholesterol and sugars, thus helping to reduce cholesterol and blood sugar. The B group vitamins favor the proper functioning of the metabolism, While the vitamin A and vitamin C provide antioxidant protection. Vitamin C also helps to respond effectively to infections. Among minerals, phosphorus and calcium are allies for healthy bones and teeth, while iron is important for the production of red blood cells. Isoflavones could help reduce the risk of breast cancer, while phytosterols help lower cholesterol levels."
Especially in recent years, it is the news of one that has increased consumer interest in broad beans recent discovery: broad beans are a source of levodopa, the drug of choice in the fight against Parkinson's disease.
To be more specific, 100 g of dried, shelled and raw broad beans contain: 11,3 g of water, 27,2 g of proteins, 4,9 g of soluble sugars, 3 g of lipids, 7 g of fibres, 4 mg of vitamin C, 2,6 mg niacin, 0,5 mg thiamine, 0,28 mg riboflavin, 14,4 µg vitamin A (retinol equivalent), 420 mg phosphorus, 90 mg calcium, 5 mg iron .
In a comparison with beans, another historical fundamental food of humanity, broad beans qualitatively win in terms of proteins (even if quantitatively lower): containing 5% of proteins, 5% of fibers, 4,5% of carbohydrates and very few fats (0,4%) while the remaining 84% consists of water.
Theirs is a long story: native to Africa and Persia beans were introduced into the Mediterranean by trade routes. Their diffusion was almost immediate first by the Greeks and then by the Romans. Even in those days the opinions were divided: initially i Greeks even went so far as to prohibit its consumption. In an epigraph of the fifth century BC. C., found in a sanctuary of Rhodes, the faithful were ordered to abstain "from aphrodisiacs, from beans, from the hearts [of animals]" to maintain a state of purity.
A long history, from the Greeks who considered them a contact with the world of the dead to the Romans who considered them a good omen
Decision probably influenced by the Pythagorean school. Pythagoras, in fact, kept well away convinced that beans numb the mind and provoke restless visions and dreams, contrasting that philosophical path of purity which he recommended to his students. Also in Greece it was believed that the broad bean plant, with its black striped flowers, put Hades in communication with the world of the living and for this reason it was used in the rituals of the cult of the dead.
For the Romans instead it was a completely different story: the beans, on certain occasions, they were a good omen, as during the celebrations of the calends of July in which they were offered to the Gods and came used to pay homage to two deities who embodied happiness and lawfulness, Bacchus the god of wine and mysteries, symbol of intoxication, sensuality and the most unbridled vitalism, and Mercury, protector of commerce, of travellers, of thieves, of eloquence, of athletics, of transformations of all kinds, of dexterity. And during the celebrations of the calends of July they were offered to the Gods.
But the real development of beans in human nutrition took place in the Middle Ages century devastated by great calamities and epidemics which brought a severe blow to agriculture. For this reason what has been defined as self-sufficiency agriculture developed: the peasants started an intense cultivation of broad beans which became their main source of survival to the point that the flour was mixed with the much more expensive and precious wheat flour to make the bread
Re-evaluated in modern times in vegetarian and vegan cuisines, protagonists of the world of Poke
In modern times, the humble broad beans have experienced a new renaissance in vegetarian and above all vegan cuisine. A worldwide research by Barry Callebaut attests that Millennials and Generation Z (individuals between the ages of 18 and 44) are increasingly adopting plant-based diets compared to the "baby boomers" born in the post-war years to the XNUMXs. Research confirms that 40% of global consumers in 2021 included more plant-based products in their habits and almost half plan to increase them in the future. AND in the modern Poké restaurant, a dish of broad beans can never be missing.
So why not take advantage of the current season to boost your well-being in the kitchen by cooking a plate of broad beans?
In Puglia there is a restaurant whose name says it all: “Ancient flavours” in the province of Andria, the city of extra virgin olive oil with its typical "Coratina", of the red wine of Nero di Troia grapes and of the rosé wine of Bombino Nero grapes, of the famous burrata, invented in the early 1900s by Lorenzo Bianchino Chieppa.
The ancient flavors of Pietro Zito, the temple of local flavors and old traditions
It has reigned in the kitchen since 1992 Pietro Zito, a former agricultural expert, proudly the son of farmers, who managed to transform his restaurant in the small village of Montegrosso, far from the traditional tourist routes, in a gourmet temple of the roots and identity of the territory, but in this case it would be better to say of the soil, because here what is “only trampled” reigns. AND from here the rediscovery of wild herbs started, enhancing old traditions: with simplicity but also with great culinary wisdom. “Montegrosso, where I was born – he says – is a fraction of Andria where only farmers live. Nobody believed in my adventure. You don't pass here by chance, there is no major attraction to visit: you only come to Antichi Sapori because you decide to. You travel quite a few kilometers to experience an emotion. Recalling the first day of opening, Zito recalls: “At the table, my first customer was Count Onofrio Spagnoletti Zeuli. After listing all the first courses available, he asks me if there was anything else. I was in great difficulty and so I invent the most banal of first courses: orecchiette with wild rocket! A dish that, in those years, on the menu of any restaurant in the area would have made people laugh, instead, they choose just that. At that point my father runs into the fields to look for wild rocket, my mother starts kneading the orecchiette, it's done. Since then we have never stopped going in that direction”. Orecchiette – it is appropriate to say – as nature commands.
The recipe for orecchiette with wild herbs
Ingredients
400 g of Orecchiette
– 500 g of dry broad beans without peel
– 200 g of “Cultivar Coratina” olives
- Extra virgin olive oil
– Salt, white pepper
– 1 carrot
– 1 potato
– 4 string tomatoes
- 1 stick of celery
– 50 g of seasoned sheep ricotta
Preparation
For the purée: soak the dried broad beans overnight, then rinse and boil them in salted water for two hours with the potato, celery, carrot, cherry tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of white pepper .
Let everything cool down and then pass it through a sieve.
Bring a pot with plenty of water to the boil, add salt and boil the orecchiette for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, toast the black olives for oil, deprived of the stone.
When the orecchiette are cooked and still al dente, drain them, add them to the mashed broad beans and sauté them in the pan.
plating
Serve by adding a few grilled pitted olives, flakes of seasoned sheep ricotta, a drizzle of raw extra virgin olive oil.
