A purple fava bean

'Extra Precoce A Grano Violetto' is a unique and colourful extra early maturing broad bean from Italy, a heritage variety with an excellent flavour. It is a very hardy variety that handles frost well and is suitable for sowing from October to November or February to March.

This variety produces long pods that are filled with 6 large beans that are a pretty purple color and are sweet tasting.

The plants grow 80 to 90 centimeters tall and are highly productive even at the lower parts of the plant. The pods are typically up to 25 centimeters in length, with six to eight beans per pod. The fresh seed is green, but the dried seed turns violet.

The exotic Italian name translates as 'Extra Early Seed of Violet', which simply means that this variety of fava bean can be harvested very early and that it produces violet coloured fava beans.

The plants are most often harvested when they first reach full size while the beans are still in the green shell stage but before the skins start to toughen. At this time the pod will still be quite soft and the seed will not be much bigger than a penny. Gathered at this time, the seeds are tender and delicious. Sweet and mild they lack that strong taste that larger broads can take on.