I use mixed beans and the larger beans all do that. I prefer that they do as I hate the skins. I pull them all off before I drain and rinse the beans before putting them in a pot or the crockpot to cook. So you're fine to either take them out or leave them in.

As the evening has gone on the beans have shed their skins and uncurled and are decidedly looking like normal beans. The smoked shanks are done, meat picked off the bones, and refrigerated. I decided to let the beans soak overnight and finish it off tomorrow.

To get a little "science-y" on you, the outer coating of the bean shell is more leathery than the inside to keep the bean seed together until it is in the right conditions to sprout. The inside is the softer, sugary/starchy food source for the emerging bean sprout. When you soak the beans, some water passed through the outer shell and causes the insides to swell. In nature, that would be when the bean seed gets watered. It would be good for the outer shell to crack, so the baby bean's stem, leaves and roots could emerge. In your case, the shell floats away from the seed. Both are still edible, but a lot of people skim off the shells, and/or put mashed beans through a sieve if they are going to use them that way. BTW, after the shell is removed, white limas (called butter beans for a reason) make a great ingredient to add to a dish to stretch something creamy without adding cream.

Love dried lima beans cooked with some ham and a little onion! LOVE that!! And when I soak my limas they always separate like that...no harm no foul....but that means they will cook very quickly. I usually don't soak limas more than an hour or two.

The beans soaked for several hours before adding to the soup. Today the soup is good tasting, but the beans have a decidedly strange texture: firm/solid yet easily chewed. I've eaten a lot of Butter Beans/ Limas in my life and never, ever, have they ever been like these.

Sometimes you get old beans, and I have found they never quite soften up as much as the fresher ones . . .

I guess I can go with really old dried beans.