I got some dried fava beans recently at a middle-eastern grocery that are also quite large and chewy even after soaking and long cooking.
They were probably old. Beans can be impossible if old. I've gotten stuck with recalcitrant chickpeas. Patronize a store with high turnover. Soaking 24 hours is a must
No, they were good, and the store is a regular beehive. Just pleasantly more chewy than the usual mushy navy bean -- more like a kidney bean in texture, but much larger. Fava beans are over an inch wide.
Instead of soaking beans overnight, does anyone bring the dried beans to a boil, remove from heat, let sit an hour, pour off the water, rinse and bring beans back to a boil, then simmer till cooked?