What Is The Difference Between Lima Beans And Butter Beans

Lima beans are more than just related to butter beans they are the same thing.

In the american south as well as in the u k they are most commonly referred to as butter beans rather than lima beans. It seems like a lot of people don t like lima beans. Lima beans and butter beans are two terms interchangeably used to describe phaseolus lunatus a type of beans. Below is a photo of large lima bean and baby lima.

Flavor and texture of bean varieties. And southern u s these beans are called butter beans due to their similar consistency to butter. They may have been from the same family but the butter bean was different and to our taste vastly superior. The main difference between lima beans and butter beans is that lima beans are green and small whereas butter beans are yellow and large.

I ve lived in the south for 60 years and lima beans are the smaller green bean. The beans are named after lima the capital of peru. Although the fordhook might appear to be a mature baby lima the two are in fact separate varieties. Butter beans may be a type of lima beans but when eaten they are large typically 1 5 inch or more in length and usually a creamy tan to light brown color.

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Lima beans are the butt of every joke about a disgusting thing your mom forced you to eat as a child. Butter beans are creamy and elegant and tossed with heirloom tomatoes. In the south lima beans are often called butter beans and in the uk they almost exclusively refer to them as butter beans. Where i come from butter beans were always the smaller firmer beans.

Anon63980 february 4 2010. Maybe you re an adventurous chef the sort who knows the difference between all kinds of butters or who can wax poetic about different types of mushrooms or maybe you re more like us someone who likes to keep things simple in the kitchen and pull out a can of beans to help kick off a recipe. Limas were the larger mushier beans. There is a distinct difference in lima beans and butter beans.

As anon49947 describes they are best cooked with a hamhock or other pork product. Crucially the only difference between the lima bean and the butter bean is in name.