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Beans, Peas & Legumes

Pole Lima Bean Taste

16 years ago

I grew up in the south, and my aunts always had gardens and grew rows and rows of what they called butter beans- both speckled and green. And as wonderful as they smelled when they cooked, they always tasted like dirt to me. They had an earthly "brown" sort of taste, closer to a black eyed pea than a fresh green pea, if you know what I mean.

Then when I got married, to a man from Southern NJ, his family always bought from local farmer's markets "New Jersey Pole Limas". And when his mother makes them, they tasted nutty and green and a little sweet, closer to a new green pea or even a green peanut. They always implied that you can't get these special limas outside of a small section of south Jersey.

Now I'm starting my own garden in Atlanta, and I want to plant pole limas, but I want the ones that taste nutty and green, not the ones that taste like the butterbeans I grew up with.

Any advice on which lima I should plant? or how to get that taste I'm after?

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Comments (3)

jimster
16 years ago
I'm no expert, having grown pole limas for the first time last summer. But I do have a hunch. It might be a matter of harvesting them young enough. My guess is that they become more mealy and earthy as they get older.

Another possibility, but less likely I think, is choice of variety. I grew a small pole lima called White Willow Leaf, which I thought was very good.

Jim
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Macmex
16 years ago
I'm not a lima expert, but I suspect Jim is on target. If you do a Google search for "Jersey" & "Limas" you might get the variety. I grew up there. But just a little to the North of where they grew them. I grow a lima called Calico Willow Leaf Pole, which is good. But my wife hates limas, so we don't eat them often.

George
Tahlequah, OK
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Willow Leaf is a hot weather lima. They need a long season and heat. They also tend to bear in burst. Produce a crop rest a while then set a second crop. Bear til frost depends on definition. As the weather cools and the days get short they quit setting altho if you want dry limas, They hand on until late November.Here they will set their final crop in September.
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Yes, the favas (geez, I had "limas" typed out just then - even still, I'm getting the names confused!) taste quite a lot like edamame. I think that's why I enjoyed them so much. The texture and flavor were similar, but a bit more assertive in the favas than you'd find in a soybean. I was feeling too blah to cook the limas after making a batch of kale chips to snack on (have you all tried them? Holy goodness, they are SO good!), so I'll have to futz with them tomorrow. It sounds like they need a bit of cooking time, as some of the recipes I saw said to boil them for 15 minutes or until tender, and they were referring to fresh limas. That sounds like an awfully long time to boil anything green, so we shall see. I like mealy beans a lot, so that might not be a bad thing. Vall3fam, I hadn't even thought of checking out TJ's or Whole Paycheck for frozen favas, and I was just there today! I'll have to look the next time I go. I'd love to buy them fresh, but even at $1/lb, I'd end up composting 3/4 of it because the shell to bean ratio is so small, and decreases even more when you peel the skins off of the beans.
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I think your limitations in space warrant you starting with pole beans. The above postings are right in that everyone has their own taste. I started with strictly pole beans & have some experience with them. "Emerite" is the best pole filet bean, yields are very good and early in my northeast PA garden (get from Pinetree Garden Seeds). I also like the purple-pdded varietes, and have great luck with "Trionfo Violetto" (get them from Pinetree Garden Seeds). I am also heavy shell bean grower/eater. I grow "Wren's Egg" (from Heirloom Seeds), "True Cranberry" (from Seed Savers Exchange), and when i can find them cannellini and borlotto pole beans (Gourmet Seeds International). I also grow bush beans for shelling & drying, "Dutch Brown", "Flagrano" flageolet (the most tasty shell bean in my opinion), and "Black Turtle" beans, which have amazing yields for cuban black bean soup. For recipes, see the thread here called "How do you cook your beans?" Folks have posted some nice ones there. Well this should get you going. Happy gardening! Here is a link that might be useful: Pinetree Garden Seeds, perfect for small gardens
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Just curious...what's the spacing for the pole beans? I planted sieva lima and crowder peas on new ground this spring. The soil was not amended however I did till it last fall and I dumped several inches of leaves over the area. I'm very fortunate in that I naturally have great soil tho:) Oh...and I didn't use an innoculant. The only time I've ever seen what you describe (on my lima's) was when I planted them too closely. It became such a jungle in there I couldn't even find the beans! They started to grow pale and didn't fill out well.
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farmerdilla
16 years ago
Colored limas have a much stronger flavor than white or green seeded limas. Willow leaf is a good white pole lima, but Carolina/Sieva has a much shorter growing season and is better suited for the mid Atlantic and points north. Some of the green seeded bush limas, have even better flavor for me, so my main crop is Cangreen, I grow Willow Leaf, Sieva , Calico, and King of the Garden, but I give them away and eat the Cangreen. Exception is the bush Dixie Butterpeas, Where I really like the speckled as a change of pace.
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