Trivia buffs and conundrum lovers can take a break today , because the result to the interrogative , “ What ’s the difference between a lima noodle and a butter bean ? ” is … nothing .
Both are just unlike public figure for the tasty legumePhaseolus lunatus .
But that ’s not the gross story . Sometimes home gardeners will find it relevant that a dome has one of these labels or the other , especially in finical region of the country , or the globe .
Photo by Rose Kennedy.
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At the same time , when you tell on for seeds or decide which multifariousness to plant in your garden , it ’s important not to let the lima - versus - butter - bean confusion mold your choices .
Instead , focus on the important distinctions for any capital of Peru or butter bean variety you might grow . I ’ll partake the top three here , and get over these other topics , too :
Photo by Rose Kennedy.
What You’ll Learn
The Difference Between Lima and Butter Beans
Other Names for These Legumes
Are Butter Peas Lima Beans ?
3 Traits Are More Important Than the Names
They may look alike , whether you view them in bags of dried heirlooms , on canned good ’ labels , or if you ’re one of the rosy few who spot them shelled at a farm stand .
But one is called “ butter edible bean ” and the other “ lima . ” What ’s up with that ?
Mostly , a regional tendency to dub our favorite veg is at play . These two common names both apply toPhaseolus lunatus , and are used interchangeably as umbrella condition for its many cultivars .
So , yes , lima and butter beans are the same affair . They both need a fond - conditions , freeze - free growing season , and produce seed that can be cooked fresh or dry . And neither has edible pod .
With that tell , though , sometimes mass in a certain realm do intend something specific when they use one name or the other .
P. lunatusincludes a miscellanea of noodle of dissimilar sizes . Some of the larger seed can be as across-the-board as an inch and a one-half , and the smallest can be about the sizing of your pinky fingernail .
In some areas , the big single are called “ butter dome , ” while in others , they ’re know as “ limas . ”
The Brits , for model , are in the “ big peer butter ” pack , referring to most allP. lunatuscultivars as butter dome , but especially the unity they key as beinglarge and starchy .
Maybe they have recognized that these are delicious served with a pat of butter on top , much like a fresh - scorched , homegrown potato .
In the American South , people unremarkably call all of them “ butter bonce . ”
If you ’re offered a lulu of them at an quondam - school diner , you’re able to await any variety , but you should take on they ’ll also be misrepresent with some sort of pork or smoked meat ( and that they ’ll be delicious ) .
But it ’s also common in the South to call the bigger ones limas and reserve the butter bonce moniker for “ baby capital of Peru , ” the one with the smallest seminal fluid .
I take as my self-confidence on this matter “ Marion Brown ’s Southern Cook Book , ” compiled from thorough correspondence with Southern home Captain Cook and well - known chefs , and published in 1951 .
It’savailable on Amazonif you want to snag a transcript of your own .
Marion Brown ’s Southern Cook Book
Brown ascertain , “ The lima bean is larger and more mealy ” but could be cooked in the same manner as butter bean plant .
For either , she recommended boil two cups of fresh shelled leguminous plant until tender , debilitate , and then dress them with a lump of butter , a teaspoon of dough , and a cup of cream or Milk River , if desire .
It may be a stretch to compare cooked baby limas to my favored dairy farm Cartesian product , but these pocket-sized - seed type are velvety , even sort of pantry , when saute or even behind - cooked .
‘ Jackson Wonder ’
The maroon - splashed ‘ Jackson Wonder ’ is an example of this type , and seed areavailable from True Leaf Market .
Now , do n’t expect anyone from the United Kingdom to have “ lima ” in their legume vocabulary , or for Southerners to call anything but a large , paleP. lunatusseed a capital of Peru .
But veer away from either of those group , and you ’ll get that many people take the polar tack , calling all of the many varieties Lima , a nod to the mintage ’ origins in Peru , where it ’s been grow for around 7,500 years .
These legume were domesticated in unlike area of Mexico 500 to 1,300 twelvemonth ago , and it was there that the smaller seed varieties were developed .
In 1907 , Burpee introduced ‘ Fordhook , ’ which took just 70 days to mature and allowed those in cold climates to begin growing this case of legume .
‘ Fordhook ’
The many vulgar names and colorful nicknames for certain veggie , especially legumes , are one of the thing I really have it off about growing my own intellectual nourishment .
P. lunatusoffers an teemingness of these titles , well beyond the two most common I we ’ve discussed here so far .
One name that crops up fairly often is “ potato bean , ” for the big white seeds that have a baked potato grain when boil or steam .
This type of legume is also known as a “ Burma noggin , ” probably because it ’s often grown there .
“ Sieva ” or “ Carolina ” beans are two more that you might hear , especially in the South .
These names probably come into vulgar usage thanks to the cultivar ‘ Sieva Carolina . ’
It was grown at Thomas Jefferson ’s grove Monticello ( which , by the fashion , is in Virginia , not either of the Carolinas ) in the later 1700s and former 1800s .
Jefferson ’s agrarian wise man Bernard McMahon mentioned it and shared specifics on make poles to support hills of these “ running Carolina lima beans ” in his 1806 Word of God , “ The American Gardener ’s Calendar . ”
That particular character is a cold - resistant vine that produce white seeds . But in cursory conversation , the names “ Carolina ” and “ sieva ” can apply to other cultivars , too , particularly those that produce small white germ .
Other popular cultivar have also spawned nickname that have come into uncouth usage for broader categories ofP. lunatus .
Some gardeners and diners have-to doe with to all vining limas as “ Madagascar beans , ” though concord to the Australian seed company Succeed Heirlooms , the name is specific to a cultivar with large speckled seeds rise as perennials in hot , dry mood .
Adding to the confusion , the label “ Madagascar attic ” is also often used to describe vanilla beans grown in Madagascar .
Vanilla planifoliais an orchid species that produces seed pod . It originate in Mexico , but the Madagascar - grow version is proclaim for its high vanillin content . It is not , however , a butter bean .
“ Calico bean ” is another sobriquet you may come across . It set out as an alternate name for the ‘ Christmas ’ lima , a vining cultivar that rise in Peru and made its style to the US in the 1840s . It produces blotch maroon and pick - colored seed .
Nowadays , the terminal figure “ calico ” might broadly consult to any number of bespeckle , spotted , splattered , or freckled capital of Peru . Or it might be a pale whitened butter bean , or even a infant lima , that ’s being used in a recipe for “ calico dome . ”
The constituent in this special stew may variegate , but is fundamentally a potpourri of brown ground beef and canned kidney bean , canned pork barrel and bean plant , and cannedP. lunatus , sauce up with store - bought ketchup and brown simoleons .
I was intrigued when I describe that the calico bean recipe represent by Johanna Christenson , a bookman intern at theNorth Dakota State University Extension Service , cry for butter bean , and this referred to the large , white , mealy case .
Shall I go on ? I can , you sleep together ! This may be the most prolifically nickname legume of all time .
Other names include Cape peas , and Chad , civet , Guffin , Haba , Hibbert , Pallar , pocketbook , or Rangoon bean .
And I have one more , my deary , which I have never in reality heard spoken out loud but read of lately : mule ears !
Yep , it ’s a southerly label , from the same people who bring you the name “ monkey nut ” for peanut and say that droop greens have been “ kil’t . ” I sleep with it , and all the twat descriptor that have come out from my area of the nation .
Doubtless there are many more monikers , since this leguminous plant has been domesticated since before 5,000 BC . It ’s fun to think about all the nicknames assigned to this one veggie garden crop across seven millennia .
Now that we ’ve cleared up the disarray , you ’d probably care to leave it there . But for the sake of all that ’s tasty , I must add one more variety to this conversation : butter peas .
Even though they ’re not often rise outside the American South , I think they should be , because they ’re prolific , full of green veg flavour , and so velvety when cooked .
And they ’re also a type ofP. lunatus , bring about small morsel on two - foot bush plant . Butter peas are distinctly round , with seeds that resemble an undersize gumball . These become pantry when steamed , churn , or brood .
They take from 70 to 78 day to produce impertinent pods for shell .
This makes it possible to grow these in some short - season veg garden , particularly if you sow them indoors in biodegradable peat mickle and graft them out after all danger of frost has passed , pot and all .
If Southerners were n’t already relate to them as butter peas ( even though they are not a type ofPisum sativumor garden pea ) , I have no dubiousness they would judge these as mini butter noodle .
And I can assure you that they ’re worth considering if you ’re look for a high - protein garden craw that ’s hard to track down fresh at the farmers market , or , well … anywhere .
This leads us to the next matter , which is this : if you ’re not become to gall too much about which common name is used to relate to these legumes , whatshouldyou focus on ?
arrive up , I ’ll portion out the top three significant distinction to make when you select a variety to grow in your garden .
Spoiler alert : While you ’ll require to know the name of the cultivar you project to grow , I ’m hold up to recommend that you not spend another 2d worrying about whether to call it a butter bean plant or lima , even if you ’re Peruvian or hail from Mississippi or Texas , or somewhere like that .
Call them what you like , and enjoy them !
Want to raise these whatchamacallits ? I ’m so glad .
While you do n’t have to take sides on call up them by the southerly full term or the Peruvian capital letter name , or any of their many alternate titles , it is a good idea to consider these three things before make your selection :
1. Taste Profile
If you ’re going to rise limas for bracing feeding , dry out , or freeze , you ’ll want to pick a type that will taste in force to you , and perhaps the other diners in your household as well .
The smorgasbord with larger seeds in the pods tend to be crude , with a starchy texture .
observance I do n’t say mushy , because they are nothing like those overcooked , bitter , and yes , soppy icy legumes you might have consumed in your younger yr .
Though they ’re self-aggrandising , the big - ejaculate varieties tend to carry their shape better during cooking . If you ’re foresee take a crap band of soup , cassoulets , or chilled salads , opt for a big - cum multifariousness .
If you ’re pursuing a velvety texture and more of a greenish veggie flavour or else of a “ beany ” taste sensation , the type with low seeds , or “ baby limas , ” might be more your matter .
Note that the “ baby ” terminal figure refers to the variety and its tot - sizing seeds , not an unripe variety of larger - seed limas .
And commemorate that those smaller morsels tend to decompose during long cooking . So while they ’re groovy for making a rich , silky humus or a succotash with edible corn and ham actor , they ’re not at all the affair for stews or casseroles .
‘ Henderson ’ is one such variety of baby lima , an other , drought - tolerant bush character . It produces seed that are about a third of an in long , pale green when fresh and undimmed white when teetotal .
‘ Henderson ’
‘ Henderson ’ seeds are available in parcel and in bulk sizes up to 25 poundsat truthful Leaf Market .
2. Bush vs. Vine
As a home gardener , you always require to know how much space a given sort will take up in your garden , and whether it will call for backup .
For limas , it ’s easy to get distracted by a catchy cultivar name ( or the promise of buttery savor ! ) and forget to check whether you ’ll be grow a vining ( aka pole or climbing ) or a bush type .
I can confirm that variety that grow aerially can save space on the terra firma , but tolerate in mind that some of those types also grow 10 to 12 feet improbable , and need exceedingly strong reenforcement .
My ‘ Christmas ’ capital of Peru are one example . The photo above shows just the top one-half of the vines where they have grown a good yard marvelous than the seven - foot arbor that substantiate them .
As for the bush type , they do n’t need reenforcement and are unremarkably better suited to develop in container .
But you typically ca n’t produce as many of them if you have specify garden space , and they may not yield as much of a crop as their terminal variety relatives .
3. Days to Maturity
Call them what you will , but resist the impulse to take one of these legumes to grow without first checking out how many days it will need to maturate .
That “ no frost ” grow requirement is not a suggestion to be take gently . So be sure to prefer for a fast - growing President Bush case if you have a super brusk raise season .
Keep in head that limas require frost - innocent days from sow ( in warm ground ) to harvest .
When you ’d care to have a harvest to dry for next year ’s seed or the wintertime step-in , check that to leave enough time for them to gain the degree where the pods are brown and brickle ahead of the first frost .
The pole varieties do be given to take longer to get , often as many as 85 to 100 days to reap after sow . But they will reward you with a recollective harvest window to cancel the waiting .
If you have a longer growing time of year but like the idea of grow a bush type , you could always be after to implant in sequence .
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Lima!
I kind of have to laugh at myself for my attitude here .
Usually , I ’m such a stickler , complaining when people confusefavasand edamame , for example , or if they show me a exposure of K - long beans when I asked forblack - eyed peas .
But for these , I make an exclusion , because I ’m so intent on head more people to produce this yummy , high protein , oft - overlooked leguminous plant .
If you’re able to happen one to constitute that you ’ll enjoy at harvesting time , I honestly do n’t deal what name you call it . nifty Southern Bush ? Rhett Butler Runners ? Margarine ? All good by me .
And if you ’d like to discover more about the many terrific diverseness and how to grow a bumper craw , I ’d urge reading these limabean guidesnext :
Photos by Rose Kennedy © call for the Experts , LLC . ALL right RESERVED.See our TOSfor more item . Originally published August 31st , 2021 . Last updated : May 20th , 2025 . Product photos via Burpee , True Leaf Market , and University of North Carolina Press . Uncredited photos : Shutterstock .
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Rose Kennedy
