At last, fava beans are flooding the farmers markets again. These plump, shiny legumes are among my favorite vegetables. When they’re fresh off the bush, they deliver the bright, green taste of spring.

Last weekend, piles of gleaming pods graced several stands at my local farmers market and I couldn’t resist. Part of the charm of favas is their season is short. You eat them when you can get them and they’re best young and tender.

Afficionados eat them raw, unzipping the leathery pods and plucking the beans out of their cottony beds. The tiniest beans, no bigger than a thumbnail, need no further preparation to enjoy their sweet young flavor. But the larger beans hide within a slightly bitter, pale green jacket and really should be peeled before eating.

There’s good reason to eat them raw. Cooking with favas can be daunting since it takes so many pods to get a cup of beans. But serve them au naturel and the shucking and any peeling become part of the entertainment. Add a glass of fruity zinfandel, a loaf of crusty bread, a chunk of salty ricotta salata cheese, and you have an immensely satisfying meal. A handful of good olives and some slices of salami round it out nicely.

To pick the best favas, look for pods that are smooth and pale green without wrinkles or blackening on their ends. Bulging, exceptionally thick pods are a sign of large beans, which are likely to be starchy and less flavorful. When you rip open the pods, the cottony white lining should be moist and the beans should be plump and fill out their skins.

To peel larger beans, pop them in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute, then drain and plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking. Using a knife or your thumbnail, slit the peel at the top, where it attaches to the pod, then squeeze each bean between thumb and forefinger until the seed pops out.

A word of warning: Not everyone can eat fava beans with abandon. A small number of people with an inherited enzyme deficiency known as favism can become very sick from eating them. Most of the people who suffer from the disorder are males of African, Mediterranean or Southeast Asian descent. For them, eating fava beans and taking some medications can produce serious flu-like symptoms.

If the beans you buy are relatively mature or you just feel an urge to cook them, I like this recipe adapted from ”Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook,” by Alice Waters (Morrow, 1999). It also calls for ricotta salata, the dry, aged sheep’s milk cheese available at better cheese shops, as well as an uncommon tubular dried pasta called garganelli, which may be found at Italian specialty stores. In a pinch, you may substitute the more widely available feta or pecorino Romano cheeses and small penne rigate pasta.