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2008-08-24

Where have all the Butter Beans gone?

635px-Lima_beans

Because now that I think about it, I really, really miss them.

I ate them all the time as a child because they were one of my favorite things EVAH (I know, I was a weird kid...not into candy much but I loved me my butter beans); I loved the slippery outer skin and the creamy interior. YUM!

My daughter is an oddity like me; she loves beans. LOVES them. Fresh or canned or frozen; she doesn't care. A delish snack to her is Mama opening up a can of, say, pinto beans, heating them on the stove with a few twists of garlic salt and pepper. She literally gets all giddy and dances around singing, "Beans! Yummy beans! Yeah!"

So in an attempt to expand her bean repertoire, I've been purchasing different types. She has yet to find one she doesn't like. And then one day out of the blue I thought of butter beans! Yes! I could buy her butter beans!

But I have been scouring local grocery stores and I can't find them. Anywhere. What's up with that? Did they have to remove them to make way for edamame? Because if that's the case, that's whack!

In fact, I think that's elitist. Sure, edamame is yummy, too. But butter beans (and their less delicious cousin, lima beans)(which are actually the ones in the above picture because it seems not only are butter beans hard to find in the store, but I can't find a good image of one, either!) don't have the same cache as edamame. Butter beans sound old-fashioned and not a bit hip.

But edamame, that's hip. I mean, it's a soy bean for Pete's sake... you can go get your chai soy latte and eat edamame and you're automatically happening, right? But a butter bean? Pfffft. Try finding a chai butter bean latte and get back to me!

And a quick nutritional analysis shows that butter beans stack up quite nicely against edamame, particularly in the area of molybdenum, which you are probably lacking right this minute!

I think it is either a vast right-wing conspiracy, or perhaps a vast left-wing conspiracy. I'm fuzzy on the details right now, but all I know is that there is butter bean-ism out there. And it must be stopped.

In the name of slippery outside skins and creamy interiors everywhere, it must. be. stopped.

28 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:21 PM

    Okay, just on a whim, I popped over to Amazon. And guess what? You can order butter beans from Amazon. Things like that blow my mind...but make me incredibly happy too. ;)

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    Replies
    1. no, Amazon does not have frozen butter beans--mostly seeds! I just
      don't think I have to grow my own. I really miss them. Please send
      me the website where you get them.

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  2. They were selling butter beans at the farmers market yesterday. If only I'd known...

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  3. Anonymous4:58 PM

    I had a hard time finding them too, and discovered that in my grocery store, butter beans are in the pea section instead of the bean section.

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  4. I may be wrong, but aren't they also called lima beans? Maybe your store carries them under that name?

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  5. I LOVE BEANS TOO!!! We are SO sisters!!

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  6. Anonymous8:13 PM

    I have at least two cans of butter beans in my cupboard. They are tricky to find. You have to look in the Bean aisle, not the vegetable one. And look up high, way over to the left. There you might find them. On the top shelf, off to the side, where you may also find the beautiful lima beans. I love those beans. mzsam

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  7. Anonymous8:19 PM

    The way you fix them is,,,boil the heck out of a can of butter beans, till the skins are falling off, then some more boiling. When the fluid looks like gravy, then, you serve them to your little Chrissie! Love

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  8. I get canned butter beans all the time. Rachel Ray taught me a great faux succotash -- sautee chopped onion, garlic and red pepper in a little EVOO, then add asparagus cut into one inch lengths and sautee some more, add drained can of butter beans and warm through. Yumm-o!

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  9. I have an extreme aversioin to all things bean like. I don't know why. I think it's a texture thing. Smooshy on the inside + skin on the outside = gastronomical no no for B.A. There must be some childhood experienced that has scarred me for life. I don't know. That said, I see butter beans all the time. But, I live in the South, and southerners seem particularly keen on beans.

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  10. I'm with B.A., I gag when I have to eat them for the sake of niceties at dinners with extended family.

    However, my FIL grows them. In abundance. You must not live in the South...or maybe you live in a very Northern part of the South. They're a staple here. I think people would literally start having heart attacks and causing mayhem if they couldn't get butter beans.

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  11. Anonymous2:39 PM

    I buy speckled butter beans in the freezer section at Wal-mart! I love those things!
    Can't get enough... my family loves them as well.

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  12. I've never had a butter bean but I sure do love me some edamame.

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  13. Anonymous1:08 PM

    That's interesting! I would like to know where all the butter beans have gone as well because they sound DElicious!

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  14. I must admit that I hate lima beans-so I'm not sure I would like butter beans.

    Edamame I love. I could eat them by the bucket.

    If I ever see a butter bean, I'll be open minded and give them a try.

    P.S. I sent you a friendship request on Facebook, in case you were wondering who I am.

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  15. Anonymous7:04 PM

    I completely forgot about butter beans. I've been on a lentil and fresh green beans kick lately.

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  16. My husband is the exact opposite. He can't (or won't) eat ANY bean, no matter what kind. Precisely because of that outer shell with the mushy inside. It grosses him out. I wonder what childhood tragedy would have caused THAT?

    (found you via merlotmom)

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  17. Anonymous10:42 AM

    Hmmm...this post made me laugh because butter beans are one of only 5 foods I cannot stand. I do, however, love me some edamame! Just bought a big honkin' bag of 'em today at Costco.

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  18. You just need to move to the south. Butter beans are EVERYWHERE.

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  19. Anonymous1:28 PM

    We're a multi-bean family, too -- we eat tons of beans of every shape, form, variety and colour. I've got a mess of them cooking up in the slow cooker, right now!! We don't have anything called butter beans in Canada, but from what I've read they're just a type of large, yellow lima bean,no?

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  20. Anonymous1:33 PM

    I have never heard of butter beans, but according to all these comments it is because i do not live in the south! I live in the land of Edamame...southern California.

    Though, i do love to try new things, so i will keep my eyes open.

    ps- i just found you blog, and i am really enjoying it!

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  21. Anonymous5:47 PM

    Funny, in my worldly ignorance, I was going to suggest that perhaps it was "lima" beans you were lusting after. Doh! But it appears I'm an idiot and didn't know that these were something different. Apologies! :)

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  22. If you love butter beans, you'd definitely dig field peas - gotta go south for those. My mom puts them away every summer and brings them to me in her carry on cooler for the airplane.

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  23. Anonymous8:55 AM

    I had forgotten all about butter beans. Thanks for the reminder! I'll have to check in our local 'Bama grocers...they have to carry them.

    Heh, I've known a few local tubby guys who went by the nickname Butter Bean.

    (hey, thanks for tweeting the flip phone offer.)

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  24. Anonymous8:58 AM

    sorry...flip phone? i'm obviously on crack this morning. video camera!! sheesh.

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  25. I cannot stand butterbeans. You and your daughter are soooo weird! Healthy I'm sure, but weird! LOL

    Although, we sorta have the childhood thing in common - I liked to eat raw onions like apples when I was little instead of candy. :)

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  26. Move to Australia. Butter Beans (canned) are in every supermarket here. Found you through Blissfully Domestic.

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  27. Anonymous12:34 PM

    my husband & me love speckled butter beans we used to find them in the freezer section at walmart but can longer find them we live in central/ southern indiana can someone please tell me where i might be able to purchase these great tasting beans

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Brilliant observations: