America's most unwanted
The lima is nutritious, inexpensive and all but ignored at dinner. Why do we neglect this humble bean?
By JANET K. KEELER
Published January 18, 2006
"NO LIMA BEANS!" exclaimed the school's flier seeking nonperishable donations for a local food bank. And in smaller, not-so-emphatic type that followed, "Or peas."
It seems that food pantries are full of limas and peas because people who buy the canned varieties never get around to eating them. And when donations are requested, the stuff we won't eat is dumped in donation bins. Consequently, pantry shelves are overflowing with lima beans (and peas and tomato soup).
Oh, the poor lima. For thousands of years it has provided nourishment and, in return , gets the "yuck face" from both kids and adults. Even my own 10-year-old son, who will eat sushi and artichokes, shuns lima beans as if they were an extra helping of homework.
In setting about to prove every lima bean hater wrong, I discovered that, sometimes, they have a point. The bean named after the capital of Peru - it's a South American native - can be a tough customer, tasting alternately like chalk or dust if undercooked, or paired with strange ingredients. Like gingersnaps. (More about that later.)
Ironically, my grand experiments revealed canned limas to be creamier and more buttery than frozen, though it's best to rinse them well to lessen the sodium content. However, my attempts to elevate the lima bean by making interesting dishes initially fell flat. The simpler I kept the treatment, the better.
Then the ultimate question: Why bother at all with the lima when there are so many other, more agreeable, beans out there such as kidney, fava, cannellini, black and great northern?
Two words: Variety and nutrition. In taste, lima beans work where others don't such as when paired with corn in sweet summer succotash. Toothsome kidney beans won't do here and black beans turn succotash into salsa. Most of all, lima beans offer diversity in flavor, color and texture.
Cast aside the lima bean and get rid of another cancer-fighting food from your diet. Harvard School of Public Health researchers have found that women who eat at least 2 cups of beans or lentils a week are less likely to develop breast cancer. Plus, beans have fiber that keeps colons healthy and lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. Beans also satisfy our appetites so we aren't as likely to overeat.
In the United States, we eat two types of lima beans: baby and fordhook. Baby limas aren't really young beans but a smaller, milder-tasting variety. Fordhooks, also known as butter beans, are larger and starchier. Dried lima beans are usually creamy white, not the familiar pale green. They must be soaked overnight to soften their hard exterior before being cooked.
There are many recipes in which limas are baked for hours with variations of stock, bacon grease, brown sugar, tomato sauce and onions. An all-day version, with molasses and pears, was made famous in Nora Ephron's novel Heartburn.
"That's the sort of food she loved to serve, something that looked like plain old baked beans and then turned out to have pears up its sleeve," said the beleaguered Rachel Samstat about her mother. (Meryl Streep played Rachel in the movie.)
I did not test this one, but the next time I have 12 hours to hang around the house with the oven on, I'll let you know.
To me, canned baby limas are best when heated and seasoned sparingly with salt and pepper. A bit of butter enhances their natural richness. I substituted them for great northern beans in a quick, garlicky bruschetta and was finally won over after a string of disappointing dishes using frozen fordhooks. I repeated two recipes with frozen baby limas and was happy with one.
The loser was Baked Lima Beans With Gingersnaps from the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukens (Workman, 1985). I've made other delicious dishes from this cookbook, so I was confident. The ingredients were just strange enough that I expected them to meld together wonderfully. Sort of like potato chips in cookies or chocolate in chili.
This time, the weirdness was only that. Sour cream spiked with brown sugar and grainy mustard, plus a topping of gingersnaps mixed with melted butter did not come together. The starchy lima beans stood out like cactus in a rose garden. A dish from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (Broadway, 1997) sounded flavorful but failed to deliver, too. Fresh rosemary, basil and olive oil, a flavorful trio for sure, were indistinguishable.
A 1998 Bon Appetit magazine recipe for the Indian-inspired Lima Bean and Basmati Rice Salad was excellent the second time around using baby limas, instead of fordhooks, and juicy, ripe tomatoes for the spicy topping. The sweet tomato juice keeps the salad from drying out. This is a distinctive potluck dish because of its exotic flavors and well-suited for the groaning table because the flavors come alive at room temperature.
If you've got a can or two of limas in your pantry, add them whole to the next vegetable soup you make or puree them to thicken a soup rather than using cream or milk. Mix them with canned tuna and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice for a twist on Tuscan white bean salad. Make limas part of a three-bean salad along with green beans and garbanzos.
In short, eat what's in your own pantry and buy new for the food banks. What they really need is peanut butter and jelly.
- Janet K. Keeler can be reached at 727 893-8586 or krieta@sptimes.com Her blog, Stir Crazy, is at www.sptimes.com/blogs/food
Lima Bean and Basmati Rice SaladYogurt topping:
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
3 teaspoons minced garlic, divided
Tomato-Onion Topping:
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon minced, seeded jalapeno
For salad:
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 cup basmati rice
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 10-ounce package frozen baby lima beans, unthawed
Mix yogurt and 11/2 teaspoons garlic in small bowl. Cover and chill 1 hour. For tomato topping, mix all ingredients in small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Cover and chill.)
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add rice; stir until coated with oil, about 2 minutes. Add curry powder, turmeric and 11/2 teaspoons garlic and stir 1 minute. Add 2 cups water and salt, and bring to boil. Add lima beans. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer until rice is tender and water is absorbed, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Cool. Stir in remaining olive oil.
Transfer rice mixture to large bowl. Spoon tomato topping over rice. Top with 1/4 cup yogurt mixture. Serve, passing remaining yogurt mixture separately. Serves 4.
Source: Bon Appetit, July 1998.
Garlicky Lima Bean BruschettaCooking spray
1 cup chopped seeded, peeled plum tomatoes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup canned, rinsed and drained baby lima beans
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Dash of crushed red pepper
8 1/4-inch thick slices of crusty french bread, cut diagonally
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add tomato and garlic, cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add lima beans, salt and red pepper to pan, mashing some of the beans with a fork. Cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat. Spread bean mixture evenly over each bread slice, drizzle each slice with 1/4 teaspoon olive oil then top with ribbons of basil. Serves 4.
Source: Adapted from Cooking Light magazine, January-February.
Baked Lima Beans6 cups frozen lima beans, thawed
6 pears, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 onion chopped
Place all ingredients in a heavy casserole dish, cover and bake for 12 hours at 200 degrees. Serves about 10.
Source: "Heartburn," by Nora Ephron.