**1. Introduction**

*Vicia faba*, also known in the culinary sense as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, horse bean, field bean, bell bean, Windsor or tic bean is a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae native to North Africa and south-western Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere [1, 2]. It is grown as a winter annual in warm temperate and subtropical areas. Hardier cultivars grown in the Mediterranean region can tolerate winter temperatures of −10°C without serious injury, whereas the hardiest European cultivars can tolerate up to −15°C [3]. Although usually classified in the same genus Vicia as the vetches, some botanists treat it in a separate monotypic genus Faba. Four subspecies including *V. faba* ssp. minor, *V. faba* ssp. equina, *V. faba* ssp. major, and *V. faba* ssp. Paucijuga were reported by Cubero [4]. However, in [5],

Muehlbauer and Tullu classified faba beans based on seed size. Botanically, faba beans were divided into two subspecies: paucijuga and faba. Faba subspecies was, also, subdivised into *V. faba* var. minor with small, and rounded seeds (1 cm long), *V. faba* var. equina with medium-sized seeds (1.5 cm) and *V. faba* var. major with large broad flat seeds (2.5 cm).

Faba bean seeds are very important crops due to their high protein content ranging from 20% to 41%, depending on variety [6]. Using legumes in human diet could potentially prolong life and maintain well-being [7]. They also contain adequate proportions of carbohydrates and oil which increases their food value [8]. Recently, the consumption of legumes was increased over the world and that due to their high nutritional value and beneficial health effects. Neverthelss, the pulses off flavors, in general and in faba bean seeds in special, limit their use [9]. The undesirable aroma of legumes is due to their emission of volatiles developping from the fatty acid oxidation catalyzed by lipoxygense. Aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, acids, and pyrazines categories were responsible for the musty, beany, grassy, earthy, and leafy unwanted odors in faba bean seeds [10].

To enhance the use of pulses worldwide, it is necessary to define methods to ameliorate the flavor of legumes. In fact, an agreeable flavor is an important aspect for any successful product [11]. Technologies and methods such as control of oxidation, germination, dehulling, enzymatic treatment, heat processing, fermentation, milling, and cultivar selection has been described to prevent the off-flavors development and accumulation in pulses [12–14]. The off-flavors in faba bean seeds were released during harvest, processing, and storage time [15]. To enhance the suitablity of legumes odors, it is relevant to start with raw pulses that emitted low desirable odors to guarantee that the development of off-flavors keeps at the lowest level during processing conditions [10, 16]. Because of the limited information available which dealing with the unwanted odors in faba beans, the purpose of this study was the monitoring of the volatiles emitted by faba bean seeds var. major and var. minor using the headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography with mass spectrometry HS-SPME-GC-MS (**Figure 1**).

**Figure 1.** *Graphical abstract of the presented study.*
