Butter Beans (Lima Beans) - Birch Community Services (2024)

FAQs

Which is healthier lima beans or butter beans? ›

There is no difference between lima beans and butter beans, though you can find them for sale at different stages of maturity. The younger green-hued beans, usually identified as baby lima beans, have a starchy texture similar to raw fava beans (which some describe as mealy). You can consume them fresh or cooked.

Swap pinto beans, great northern beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, or kidney beans for lima beans in soup and casseroles. In salads and stir-fries use green peas, string beans, or fresh fava beans.

Folks in the American South and the United Kingdom typically call them butter beans (Southerners do love their butter). In the rest of the U.S., they're known as lima beans, after their origin in the city of Lima, Peru.

The younger green-hued beans are often called Green Baby Limas and are more tender than their larger counterparts. Despite that, all varieties come from the same plant.

Yes – butter beans are good for you! Packed full of vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates and protein, butter beans are a healthy addition to any diet.

Other than what they're called and sometimes their color, butter beans and lima beans are exactly the same. Their species is called Phaseolus lunatus and the difference in their name is only a matter of geography. In the American South and the United Kingdom, they're butter beans.

Two types of lima beans, called butter beans in the South, are grown in home gardens. Most of the more northerly parts of the United States, including the northern New England States and the northern parts of other States along the Canadian border, are not adapted to the culture of lima beans.

Lima beans are rich in the mineral manganese, a key nutrient in brain development. It's necessary for the creation of neurotransmitters that help brain cells communicate, and its antioxidant properties protect against brain cell damage. In addition to fiber, lima beans are high in plant-based protein.

You'll see them labeled in different ways in the store, after all: frozen lima beans, canned butter beans, dried large limas—or is it dried large butter beans? Turns out, lima beans and butter beans are the same thing. Both terms refer to the same species, Phaseolus lunatus.

Lima beans are a vegetable that is part of the legume family. The proper name for the lima bean plant is “lunatus” which means “half-moon” and refers to the shape of the bean.

What is the nickname for lima bean? ›

A favorite in the American South, limas are actually named after the capital of Peru, and they have more nicknames than any other bean: butter bean, Rangoon bean, Burma bean, Madagascar bean, and chad bean.

You don't have to soak your dried beans overnight.

Soaking beans in the refrigerator overnight will reduce the time they have to cook drastically. And the texture of the beans will also be it their best, with fewer split-open and burst ones. But like we said, you don't have to commit this hard.

While they're all the same bean botanically, butter beans have different names depending on the region. In the South and in the United Kingdom, they're typically referred to as butter beans. Elsewhere in the U.S., they're known as lima beans (named for Lima, Peru, the bean's point of origin).

Expert Response. You should not eat limas if they are bitter because they are probably high in cyanogenic glucosides. Normally this is only a problem in wild limas, but can occur in cultivated varieties even though lima bean breeders do have to measure cyanide content before they release a new variety.

Even though pulses contain carbohydrates, they don't give sharp rises to blood glucose levels compared to other carbohydrate-containing foods. The make-up of the carbohydrates in pulses, the fibre content and the fact that they are high in protein slows down the breakdown of the carbohydrates into glucose in the blood.

Eat Your Beans

Pulses, beans, lentils, and peas have been shown to significantly lower blood pressure in people with high and without high blood pressure. Beans are packed with fiber and protein, which have been shown to naturally help reduce blood pressure.

Beans tend to be healthier than pasta since they contain more nutrients than white pasta alone. Similar to chickpeas and lentils, beans are excellent sources of fiber and plant-based protein. Easily incorporated into various dishes, beans have several health benefits including promoting a healthy gut and heart.

Butter beans may promote heart health due to their high soluble fiber content, which can help lower cholesterol levels. This is important for maintaining healthy blood vessels and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease or a heart attack.