Christmas Lima Beans. Leoadec / wikimedia / 2010 / CC BY-SA 3.0
Christmas lima beans are flat beans, about 2 to 3 cm (1 inch) wide.
They have a beige background with dark burgundy mottling covering most of the bean. The mottled coloration survives cooking.
When cooked, Christmas lima beans have a flaky texture, and a taste that some people say reminds them of chestnuts.
The plant is a pole type bean plant that is 75 to 100 days from seed.
Cooking Tips
Don’t soak Christmas lima beans before cooking. Don’t use pressure cooking on them. Simmer for 1 ½ hours.
Substitutes
Lima beans
Equivalents
500 g (1 pound) dry = 4 to 5 cups, cooked
1 cup uncooked = 2 ¼ cups cooked
History Notes
Christmas lima beans were known in the 1840s. They were particularly popular in the American south-west around the turn of the 20th century.
Cooked Christmas Lima Beans (with slices of sausage) The mottled coloration on the beans survives the cooking. Timothy Vollmer / flickr / 2012 / CC BY 2.0