Known as Saint Joseph Beans, African Wishing Beans, and most commonly as Fava Beans, these beans are among the oldest foods cultivated in the world, reportedly having entered the human diet as a cultivated crop around 6000 BC. They are still quite popular while young and tender in a wide array of culinary uses, and can be found used as such throughout the world. In Ancient times, they were also used in Greece and Rome as a method of voting, with the white and black beans alternatively meaning yes and no. Among the Ubykh culture, they are also a favored tool of divination, and are scattered on the ground and read for this purpose.

Today, they are perhaps most common outside of food products in the traditions of Catholic Italians and Sicilians, where it is placed upon the altar on Saint Joseph's feast day.

Also common today, are the Hoodoo traditions wherein this bean derives the name Mojo Wish Bean. It is in this tradition where it is used to grant wishes. Most often, it is carried for seven days as you make your wish, and on the seventh day your wish should come true in some shape or form. In this case it is frequently carried in a flannel bag, though it can also be carried in a pocket or purse. Mojo wish beans have also been used in ritual, particularly where it helps attain that which is desired.