Spring beans paint a broad canvas

SPRING greens come in tiny shots as well as massed bunches: specifically, peas and broad beans.

Francesco Virgara with this season's broad beans at the Victor Harbor Farmers Market. Picture: Brent Tamblyn

SPRING greens come in tiny shots as well as massed bunches: specifically, peas and broad beans. With Australia's diverse climates, in some regions peas are finishing just as broad beans come into their own, while elsewhere it's the opposite. Down south, in the country's far western corner, at Albany, Western Australia, Daniel and Simone Felton have shelling peas, sugar snap peas and snow peas (Albany Farmers Market today).

"They're best eaten raw, sprinkled through salads," Simone says. "They're little, sweet morsels, like lollies. I don't think I've ever cooked them." You can preserve the moment by tossing some in the freezer.

The Feltons started picking at the end of last month. It's a short season, three weeks for an individual plant, but with staggered plantings the harvest lasts a couple of months.

The Feltons' broad beans, however, won't be ready until the end of this month. But the tips provide early treats. Simone says: "We cut off the growing tips when they're about chest high, leaves and flowers at the very top; we just break off the newest part." The plant grows no taller and the beans develop on lower branches. People mix these tender tips into stir fries and chicken curries "just to wilt at the last moment".

Around Sydney, the broad beans are in. John Zavaglia says: "The peas are a cold-weather crop, they don't like hot weather." John has about 0.2ha of broad beans at Glenorie, northwest of Sydney, picking staggered crops from March into October. They're at Eveleigh today; Castle Hill Farmers Market next weekend and Warriewood Beaches Market (Fridays, 8am-1pm, Pittwater Rugby Park).

Another ancient Middle Eastern crop - protein, riboflavin and vitamin C-rich broad beans - has been cultivated since at least 4500BC. Broad bean were used as voting chips in the Roman Senate. Their presence has been traced in the Bronze Age ruins of Troy (destroyed about 1180BC) and they were known in the Iron Age (from 900BC).

Andrew Muscat (Muscat Family Vegetable Farm, near Windsor) also has them at Eveleigh until next month from an early August start. Andrew grows "a few rows, about 122m each". No peas, though. He says peas are "very time-consuming to pick".

In South Australia's southeastern Riverland, "broad beans have just begun and they are superb", says Brent Tamblyn, market manager at Victor Harbor Farmers Market. Con and Harry Mantzarapis have them from Cooltong, and Francesco and Sarina Virgara, from Willunga Plains.

Starting SA's long weekend today at Victor Harbor, Brent (a former chef) and Francesco (a passionate cook) are cooking "a regional Italian dish of broad beans and artichokes, simmered in broth, with pancetta and tagliatelle".

In chillier Hobart, it's peas. Sunday's Farm Gate Market should have sugar snaps from Campania and Richmond.

Susan Herrmann Loomis (Cooking at Home on Rue Tatin) says late spring peas are perfect for soup."Don't be tempted to add cream, as it would muffle the fresh pea flavour."

In the south of France, broad beans are served raw with coarse salt as an hors d'oeuvre. Carmel Zavaglia cuts them into pieces, shells and all, and fries them, then grates a bit of pecorino over the top.

If you can't get broad beans young and tender enough for this, they must be shelled and the pale, tough skin removed from each bean. That's easy when boiled for 30 seconds, plunged into ice-water, then slit with a fingernail to reveal an emerald gem. Larousse's recipes (several can be used for peas or broad beans) are based on boiling them with a bunch of savoury, then dressing them with butter or cream.

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MARKETS

Western Australia: Albany Farmers Market (Saturdays, 8am-12pm, Collie St)

South Australia: Victor Harbor Farmers Market (Saturdays, 8am-12.30pm, Grosvenor Gardens)

NSW: Eveleigh Markets (Saturdays, 8am-1pm, 243 Wilson St, Darlington)

Tasmania: Hobart Farm Gate (Sundays, 9am-1pm, Elizabeth and Melville sts)

Victoria: Echuca Farmers Market (1st, 3rd and 5th Saturdays, 8am-1pm, 400 Hare St)