In the southern United States, butter beans are white beans, and similar to white beans or navy beans, NOT lima "lie-muh" beans. Lima, "lee-muh" are big, green, and from Lima, Peru.
"No ... duh. Baby limas kinda look like navy beans, momma, but they taste different," said one of my wise younguns. I cooked 'em back-to-back and agreed with him. The texture ain't like navy beans. And I don't use butter either, I add sautéed onion (in bacon grease) and chicken bullion to my water instead.
In the southern United States, butter beans are white white, and similar to white beans or navy beans, NOT lima beans. Lima, "lie-muh " are big, green, and from Lima, Peru.
Ignore this reply and read the next one - except add the comment my wise youngun said, "No ... Duh." He pointed out that the navy bean texture is different than lie-muh beans. I cooked 'em back-to-back and discovered him to be right and my statements above and below ain't right. BABY (dried) lie-muh beans = butterbeans. (BTW, I don't use butter, I sub both sautéed onions in bacon grease and chicken bouillon.)
Actually they are not all the same. There are at least a dozen cultivars for broad beans, including gigante beans and favas. I have also seen lovely mottled red and white ones (the name escapes me right now). There is also form of poisoning called favism which fortunately only a tiny percentage of the population is susceptable to.
They are the same bean. But I've found the 'butter beans' labeled as such are typically the larger beans with a some what more mealy texture. Same bean just labels. IMHO my preferred choice are the ones labeled as baby limas.
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