the taste of early summer
If tastes and smells and textures hold memories, then broad bean season is filled to the brim with them.
The burning sun on our skin as we gather around the garden beds with our bowls and baskets ready for the harvest. The feel of the slightly fuzzy, swollen pods that we press to make certain their beans are ready. The tug of the pods off the vine. The hollow sound the fat, green pods make as they hit the enamel of the empty bowls that slowly dulls as the bowls gets fuller and fuller. The chatter amongst us. The songs of the kookaburra family nearby. The brilliant blue sky. The feeling of early summer freedom and possibility.
Then the gathering around the filled bean bowls on the blanket. The discussion about podding technique. The fleshy, spongy feeling of the pod skin ripped apart. The pop of the shiny beans as they bounce out of their tight enclosures into the bowl. The flavour of a sneaky fresh bean. Yum! The look of the empty bean bowl filling and the full pod bowl slowly emptying. The eternal 'to double pod or not to double pod' question.
And then the eating. All those summer flavours. They've been worth the long wait. They are as sweet and as garlicky and as salty and delicious as we remember.
We'll eat them most nights for a while. Just plain and then a bit more fancy as the weeks go on.
This is the taste of our early summer days. This is what it's all about.
FrogGooseAndBear
Melissa Goodsell
Samantha Dennison
Congratulations you guys. Email me your postal deets and the gorgeous Anna will get your packages in the mail as soon as possible. Yay!
And for everyone else, I hope you are happy. I hope things are delicious in your world and that your lists are getting shorter as the days are getting longer, or shorter as the case may be.
Big broad bean love.
And tell me, do you double pod, or do you not?
xx