Lima Bean/Butter Bean

Also “baby” lima, sieva (and variations, below), butter pea

Limas are one of those rare foods with a common name that makes sense. Early examples (7000 to 5000 B.C., depending upon the authority cited) were unearthed in Peru (although Brazil may be home to the very earliest), and Europeans did discover them in Lima. Although there are lima beans of strikingly different form, color, and size, they are usually grouped as one species, Phaseolus lunatus; but some distinguish the larger ones as Phaseolus limensis. Limas are found in markets from Africa to Madagascar to Myanmar to the Philippines, but few fresh ones can be found in the־ United States, where dried and frozen lima beans are the norm. Dried, we have white-seeded, marbled, and multicolored types: huge pale Gigantes; chestnut and calico beans; and Christmas limas, among others. Frozen, they are lima bean green.