In the Beginning

Take one broad bean, and soak overnight in water.

The end which was attached to the stalk when the bean was in the seed pod has a scar called the hilum, and a tiny hole next to it called a micropyle. The micropyle is where the pollen tube penetrated the ovary during the fertilisation process.

You can see the air leaving the seed, and collecting along the length of the hilum.Now we have to wait until the bean has finished it's long soak.

In this picture you can see that the seed coat or testa is very wrinkled so I left the bean for a few hours longer until it was fully hydrated. Notice that it is now about 5mm longer than in the first picture.

So then we can set it up in a jam jar and leave in a sunny place.