Native to southwestern Asia and northern Africa. It is said to have been introduced to China during Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions in the Western Han Dynasty, and from China to Japan around the 8th century.
Origin of the name
The Yuan Dynasty agronomist Wang Zhen said in the Book of Agriculture, "The silkworms begin to ripen at the time, hence the name"; and the Ming Dynasty medical doctor Li Shizhen in the Food Materia Medica, "The pods are shaped like old silkworms, hence the name".
Besides, because the pods of fava beans grow upright in the sky, they are sometimes written as "empty beans" in Japanese.
Use
It can be used as food, vegetable, medicine, fodder, and green fertilizer.
Dried broad beans can be used as food
Fresh broad beans can be used as a vegetable, and can be boiled, stir-fried, or made into soup
In medicine, Chinese medicine believes that broad beans are flat and sweet in nature, and that they are effective in benefiting the stomach, inducing diuresis, relieving swelling, and stopping bleeding and removing toxins
These beans can also be used as fodder or green manure
They are also used for food, medicine, or green manure.