Lima bean ideas?

13 years ago

I like limas. I was raised with limas--my grandfather grew 'em so we got them fresh (good) or dried (Mom made bad stuff with those).

So now we use frozen, even though all I can find is baby limas and grandpa said they were no darn good--gotta stick with Fordhook, but I digress.

How do I make limas without disguising their delicate lima bean essence? We've always done them with butter, salt, and pepper and I love them that way, but part of me wonders if I'm missing something. Are there more extravagant lima recipes more appropriate for a holiday dinner? Or should I just stick with the tried and true treatment, which even my grandmother did for her extravagant holiday meals?

How do you do limas?

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Comments (8)

susytwo
13 years ago
I love Gigantes. They are my favorite way to eat lima beans.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/gigantes-recipe/index.html
Lars
13 years ago
I vote for the simple method - I love Lima beans, but I want to taste the Limas and nothing else, except butter. I do not put pepper on them and almost no salt, although I don't mind a bit of pepper - I just think they do not need it. If you start to add other ingredients to Lima beans, they start tasting like any other bean and might as well be lentils. I'm the same way about fresh corn - I do not use salt or pepper, but I'm okay with butter added. I also like very plain summer squash.

Lars
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Personally, I would take the "6 plants per square foot" with a grain of salt. Limas are very vigorous, spreading, deep-rooted plants - even the bush varieties. Furthermore, all of the varieties in the link are baby limas; large-seeded limas (like Fordhook) require more space. When I grew Fordhook 242 in my garden, I used 6" spacing in the row (as recommended) and rows 2 feet apart. When the plants were mature, the growth was so dense that the beans were hard to find, even as large as they were. Fordhook is a very good lima, IMO. They need full sun & plenty of heat to produce. As with any bean, avoid the excessive use of nitrogen... you'll end up with thick foliage, and few beans. In a container, they might need a balanced fertilizer early, but don't over-do it.
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Interesting, Bcnu. How long were you there? Did you have a chance to observe the performance of the vines over several years? While "7 Year" sounds worth growing, it should be noted that many limas will grow as perennials in tropical climates. San Diego doesn't always get a frost, and when that happened, my "King of the Garden" limas would winter over. However, while the yield the second year was very early, the quality was not as good as the first year from seed. It's been a bear of a year for me here; but the "Madagascar" limas that I mentioned earlier in the thread went in as planned, and survived the flooding that killed much of my garden. The vines, while not as vigorous as they should be, are blossoming & just beginning to form pods. As a rule, if I have blossoms by August 15th, I should get dry seed... so there is cause for optimism. The "Midwest monsoon" has finally broken, and the weather now is consistently 80's day/60's night - perfect bean weather. I'll post updates on this thread later in the season.
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"Limas have the reputation of being unreliable in northern latitudes..." There is truth to that. They are unreliable here, if direct seeded. With the use of transplants, however, I can grow many varieties successfully that would otherwise be "iffy" for my Northern location. Limas are doing extraordinarily well for me this year, thanks to an early start & all of the extra summer heat. When I saw the heat in the long-term forecast, I increased my planting of "Mottled Sieva" (pole) to 75 feet of row. Glad I did. So far, I have harvested about 2 pounds of dry seed, and the vines are just getting started.
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I agree with the recommendation for yardlong beans; kids are fascinated by them. The variety "Chinese Red Noodle" would be especially interesting, since it has attractive, deep burgundy-purple pods. It really thrives on heat, too... which would be a plus, given your location. Another variety, "Taiwan Black", has very long pods, some of which can actually be close to 3 feet long when mature. Both are pole varieties, you can get them from Baker Creek. Another bean that would be interesting would be winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus); and since it is a tropical bean, it is especially well-suited to Florida climate. The flowers are very attractive, the 4-sided beans are unusual, and all parts of the plant are edible. You can get seed from the non-profit ECHO, which is also located in Florida. Don't know how well common beans would do there; but a mixture of green, purple, and yellow-podded varieties would be really eye-catching. Some companies even offer a mix, I think Parks had one. Good point about the limas, Happy. Don't know the age of the children, or the degree of adult supervision... but if potential toxicity is not an issue, there are two other candidates I would recommend. Both have the added advantage of being tropical: - Sword Bean (Canavalia gladiata) has rampant vines, and some of the largest pods (up to 3" wide & over a foot long) of any bean. Kitazawa Seeds carries them. Kids like big, and these are probably the largest bean seeds you can grow. - Hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab) has very large vines, beautiful fragrant flowers, and unusual clusters of flat pods. Kitazawa & Baker Creek both carry several varieties. Most of my recommendations have one thing in common - they are pole varieties. I agree with George, kids are really drawn to climbing beans. Some of these (such as sword bean, hyacinth bean, & the more rampant pole limas) will climb very high. You might consider raising a 10-foot pole with strings attached, then tying off the hanging strings to stakes at the bottom to form a tee-pee. This could be an impressive sight when filled with vines. Having said all this... have you contacted the Florida Master Gardeners? They would probably be happy to help, and could recommend the best varieties (and planting times) for your area. They might also be able to direct you to local sources, and perhaps even provide you with free seed.
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Pieonear
13 years ago
I use frozen baby limas and cook as directed. When cooked, drain and stir in salt, pepper, a dash of hot sauce, butter and a dollop of sour cream. If too thick, thin down with a little half and half or milk.
Fori
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks y'all!

I guess a gentle treatment for fresh limas is normal then? I'll try the sour cream method. Sour cream is rarely wrong! :)

Susy, I'll try that next time I get dried limas. Looks good. Thanks!
pink_warm_mama_1
13 years ago
Stay with the gentle treatment, and definitely try to find
the large beans as they're so much better than the baby limas. For an extra treat, sip some of the cook water.
jimster
13 years ago
Lars' method for fresh limas is almost exactly the one I learned from a friend who grows large quantities of Ford Hook limas each summer and freezes most for later use. His method adds only a little milk along with the butter. Before I tried it, I could not imagine how such simple and relatively bland ingredients could make a very tasty dish. But indeed they do.

Dry limas are a different story. After having some really terrific ones in a soul food restaurant, I experimented until I was able to replicate them. Ingredients are simple -- large dry limas, water, ham hocks, red pepper flakes. The first step is to make a broth using the ham hocks. The important part is to get the texture right. The beans should have a butter-like consistency and should have a gravy-like sauce, thickened by smashing up some of the beans during the cooking.

I also agree about summer squash with butter and salt only. To me that means Yellow Crookneck squash, sliced and fried in butter. Has to be crookneck, which is home grown because it is almost impossible to find it in a store. Again, subtle flavor and very, very good.

Jim
mustangs81
13 years ago
Jim, we have a lot of fresh yellow crookneck squash most of the year. I cook it often with zuchini, sweet onions, and butter being careful not to let it get mushy.

Sorry, no suggestions but good idea for me to look for some fresh limas; I'll ask our local farmers market if the carry any during the year.

This post was edited by mustangs on Thu, Dec 20, 12 at 17:59
Fori
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks all. I will probably continue to cook them like Grandma did. :)

I don't think I've ever ever seen fresh limas except for the ones my grandfather brought us. We had to shell those babies!

But now I have kids and they can shell limas and I oughta grow some.

Lima bean ideas?

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susytwo

Lars

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Lima bean ideas?

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susytwo

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