Good Question: Where Can I Buy Frozen Fava Beans?

Kathryn took the above photo at an outdoor market in Europe, where fava beans are fresh and in season. They are in the US as well, but they do require some laborious shelling. Reader Virginia is looking for something easier to prepare a quick, beloved Spanish dish. She writes:

Recently we were in Spain, where I had the most delicious dish of "habas finas con jamon serrano y huevo frito," in other words, "baby fava (or broad) beans with cured ham and a fried egg." In Spain, they use frozen favas for such dishes. Do you know where I can find frozen fava beans in NYC? It will make preparing this delicious dish much easier!

We're stumped on this one...

We called Despaña, our go-to store for Spanish goodies, but no frozen favas there. They do sell dried ones, but that's not what we need here. And just so we didn't overlook the obvious and kick ourselves later, we scanned Whole Foods. No dice.

This website, intlgourmet.com, seems to sell bags of frozen fava beans, but the site is jumbled and the shipping price is prohibitive.

Does anyone have a tip for Virginia? Anywhere in the city selling frozen fava beans?

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Related: On Cooking with Frozen Peas

(Image: Kathryn Hill)

Comments (8)

I think you should be able to find them in a Middle Eastern market.

"Fool" is a fava bean dip which uses either dried and reconstituted favas or fresh frozen favas.

If you can't find them there, it's possible that some of the big NYC specialty stores may carry them. They could at least special order them as they are used by many restaurants for banquets and such.

posted by art on May 30th 2008 at 7:49am
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Coluccio's - an italian import co w/retail store in Dyker Heights Bklyn. Located on 60th St between 12 & 13th ave.
Its where i buy mine

posted by luigilly on May 30th 2008 at 8:03am
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Hmm, I was going to suggest Whole Foods because I saw some there the other day (although I am not in New York)...maybe a different location?

I often substitute frozen shelled edamame for favas--not perfectly authentic, but pretty good in a pinch.

posted by smalltastes on May 30th 2008 at 8:20am
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I've seen them at Whole Foods in Maryland.

posted by Julie on May 30th 2008 at 8:21am
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I have purchased frozen shelled fava beans from the Whole Foods in Baltimore on multiple occasions.

posted by raspberry eggplant on May 30th 2008 at 8:54am
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I've bought them at WF in San Francisco as well.

posted by SFGail on May 30th 2008 at 10:01am
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I have purchased them at WF in VA, but I would still put the effort into fresh, unless you are going to puree them. Every time I tried the frozen they have completely fallen apart.

posted by ValHalla on May 30th 2008 at 11:02am
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Many little (or not so little) Middle Eastern shops in Brooklyn carry them. If they've got a freezer, fava beans are likely to be in it.

posted by Samplehop on May 31st 2008 at 2:49pm
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