Later in the season, as broad beans become larger, they need to be prepared and cooked in a different way from the small first beans of the season.
These beans are never served raw, nor are they cooked with their pods. When podding, we separate the large and medium beans, and cook them separately. If they are very large and starchy, we discard them. Unlike the early beans, we often remove the skin from the beans after cooking them, when they are cool enough to handle.
We tend to use the medium beans for slow cooking, combined with peas or prosciutto, in soups and pastas. They are delicious with anchovies in salads.