I grow favas every year just because they are snow tolerant. The University of Idaho extension office suggests planting favas as a winter cover crop.
Who knew?
I plant them the same time I plant the peas. This year we put extra chicken dirt on the garden and I've never seen favas so happy and dark green in my life. They're about 18 inches tall now and flowering like crazy.
White flowers with black spots.
The beans will come in pods. You're supposed to take them out of the pods, then take the outer cover off the individual beans. The outer cover can be bitter.
I don't care. I take them out of the pod then sautee them with lots of garlic. The bitter cover is pretty mild and doesn't bother me.
Also, if you haven't looked at the Gardening tab above lately, you might check it out now. I've added a lot of information on our veg gardening schedule and a comprehensive list of what I'm growing this year. As things progress, I'll be commenting on our experiences with each variety.