Very laborious is the preparation, which enhances digestibility: they are put in cold water, bring to boil and leave for a night, then the favas bean are put in an aluminum casing which sounding will allow to remove those ones still hard. 

In the same way, the result of much effort it is not changed: the fava cottòra (or “mezzafava" - lit. "half fava bean” - for its small size) retains the characteristics that make it as an easy digestible and an highly nutritious food, especially from the proteinaceous perspective.

Its name “cottòra” anticipates another characteristic: its rapid cooking. The field on which these favas bean are grown, low in active limestone, make possible a reasonably fast cooking, without peeling them.

In the kitchen

The ways to eat this variety of favas bean are several, from simple seasoning with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh onion, to a purée seasoned with extra virgin olive oil and salt, perfect for toasted bread.
Another option, traditionally cooked on the pig slaughter day, it is the “stripe with favas”, whose recipe provides that they boil in the fat obtained from the long fat stripes of the pig’s ventral zone.

Source: slowfoodumbria.it