Faba beans

Seeds of Vicia faba, varying in shape, colour and size, also known as fava beans. Immature seeds are eaten cooked, frozen or canned, and immature pods are eaten too, while mature seeds are dried. Types include broad beans, horse beans and field beans. In susceptible individuals they can trigger favism, a haemolytic anaemia. Favism strikes individuals deficient in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, common in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern populations, when vicine and convicine in the beans trigger red-cell breakdown. Processing — soaking, boiling, fermentation — reduces these glucosides, and dehulled, cooked faba beans are a protein-rich staple across North Africa and the Middle East.