I'm not a fan of anything in a crock pot....but I cook dry limas in my Dutch oven ( I call it my cordless crock pot!)
I do limas, liquid to cover...half water half chicken broth is good, a chopped onion, ham hock...I don't like to add bacon grease. a tablespoon of brown sugar....but that depends on how sweet the onion is...taste to be sure.
A little thyme...like 1/4 tspful is good or not....and salt and pepper....lots of pepper!!
I Loooove dried limas, but would be afraid the crock pot would cook them to muck.
Linda C

I love Lima beans also, and I keep both frozen and dried ones on hand. DB won't eat ham, and so I use chicken or turkey stock for flavor when cooking dried ones. I would never cook them for several hours, however - only just until done. I don't add any sugar either, but I sauté the onion first, which makes it sweeter.

If you make a large batch, you can freeze the leftovers - that's what I do anyway.

Lars

kimberly, I love beans of all types and I always cook mine in the crockpot on low, all day while I'm at work. I come home and have a pot of beans, just waiting for me.

I often use home canned chicken stock to cook beans in, but not when I have smoked hocks or a hambone, something along those lines, then I just like the smokey pork flavor by itself. The stock does add more flavor, I agree. I always add celery, onion, a bit of chopped carrot for color, salt and pepper and sometimes a bay leaf if it suits me at the time, LOL. Elery likes some of the dried hot peppers from my garden in his, I dry the peppers, grind 'em in the food processor and have flakes, but they are HOT, HOT, HOT!

Oh, and cornbread is always good with beans. I don't usually freeze leftover beans, I make a baked bean dish with them or mash them up for homemade refried beans. Yes, even limas.

Annie

Large, dried limas are one of my favorite soul food dishes. The ingredients are simple. You don't need an elaborate recipe. The goodness comes from the method. I believe those who don't like limas have had ones which were poorly prepared. That could be unappetizing. Done right they are delicate and comforting.

I never thought of using chicken broth. I start by making stock with the ham hocks and onion. If I used chicken, it would be a substitute for ham hocks. Ham hocks provide collagen. Chicken feet do too, as we know. The stock is cooked a long time (That's how I write a recipe. Precision is everything.) I remove the tasty meat bits which will remain in the pot and discard the rest.

The soaked beans (I use the quick soak method due to my failure to plan ahead) are then simmered gently in the broth. The object is to get them to the consistency of firm butter or ripe avocado while retaining their shape and not popping out of their skins, and have a gravy-like sauce. You can't be careless and achieve that. It depends on cooking time, amount of stock and a special technique. The special technique is to remove some beans when they have become soft enough and mash them. Add them back as as thickener. Good beans can be made without doing this, but it takes extra skill and a little luck. Even this technique requires some judgement. I wonder, would it spoil the fun if I worked out an accurate recipe?

Keep some watering simmering in case you need to add more. Don't use cold water.

Season toward the beginning with red pepper flakes and toward the end with salt.

I think the collagen in the stock develops better after a period of chilling, but I always serve this right away and there is not much left to experiment with.

The crockpot method may be good. Slow cooking seems right for this. I need to try it and see if achieve the same results.

Corn bread is a story for another time.

Jim

I use chicken broth instead of water.

But I make them in the pressure cooker with a ham bone, pepper, fresh garlic, carrots, onion and celery.

You can buy ham and pork soup base from Penzeys.

I make great northern beans and black beans in the crockpot all the time. This method works fabulously for me, a person who is rarely home due to working, and when I am home, I have zero time to fuss with things. I have not tried the pressure cooker method though, since all I have is an old gaugued fussy one. Can't afford a new one. Anyway, I think limas in the crockpot will be delish. Report back!

Here is a link that might be useful: Penzeys soup bases

Thanks everyone for your responses. I can't wait to fix my beans. I do think I will use some chicken broth along with ham hocks and onion. It does sound good. Since I will be using the crockpot I will check on them periodically throughout the day. I don't want them to turn to mush.
I will let you know how they turn out. Thanks again!!

Yes, Jim, if you wrote down an accurate recipe it WOULD take the fun out of it!!

No "experiments" to eat up.
No taste testing during the cooking time.
No bean gravy to pour over potatoes.

ppppphhhhhtttttttthhhhhhhh.............

Don't do it.

:+)

Deanna

I probably make some sort of dried bean dish every other week. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE limas and make an awesome soup with a hambone, some veggies, and chicken stock.

I use my pressure cooker and have tender, little potato-like limas in 30 minutes. Whoo-hoo!

I made a wonderful lima hummus dip from a modified recipe I found on Rancho Gordo, an organic dried bead distributor. I'm gonna order some of their beans.

Check out all their neat, heirloom beans...

Here is a link that might be useful: Rancho Gordo: Heirloom Dried Beans

I have a quick question, yesterday at the store they did not have ham hocks. Now I'm assuming this is a bone with meat, am I correct? What they did have and it said ham hocks but the meat was in a package with no bone. How much of that meat should I use? I'm sure the meat is loaded with salt, I don't want overkill on the beans.

Ham hocks usually come in little slices, about 2 inches or so in diameter, with a round bone in the middle. My homegrown ones come unsliced, just a "hunk" of the leg just above the knee (or elbow), and complete with skin.

If I didn't have a ham bone leftover or smoked hocks, I'd probably use a cup of chopped smoked meat per pound of beans, maybe less depending on how "meaty" you want them.

Annie

Are you sure they were boneless? Maybe you were expecting them to look like a soup bone. They don't. The bones are covered with the cartilage, fat and skin. They have some meat, but not much. See the link below.

I have not found ham hocks to be excessively salty.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Ham Hock Picture

Annie that is exactly how the ham hocks came, sliced with the bone. I made them Saturday with the chicken broth, great flavor and they were delicious. Thanks everyone for your help.