Fill a large bowl with ice water. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Drop the pods into the boiling water. Boil for 30 seconds.
Drain the pods and submerge the pods in the ice bath. Let them sit for a few minutes until chilled.
Snap one end of the shell and pull the string down the seam of the pod to open the pod. There will be about 4 or 5 beans inside. Remove the beans.
Slip the skins off by pinching them and sliding them off of each bean. Then proceed with your recipe.
After this quick blanching, the beans will be just barely crisp-tender, and you can use them as is in salads.
If you want more tender beans, just cook them longer, up to 5 minutes, for very tender fava. But if you are going to add them to a recipe that includes more cooking time, all you need is the 30 seconds of blanching to make it easier to remove the skins before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
Notes
Once shelled, fresh fava beans generally need to be peeled before cooking them (follow the instructions for doing just that). However, if you are lucky enough to get very young fava beans, the skins are tender enough to be edible. You’ll have the best chance of finding young fava beans in early spring. The skin of the fava bean must be green for it to be tender enough to eat; if it is yellow or yellowing, it will be too tough.