Lima bean

Lima bean
Lima beans
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fabales
Family:	Fabaceae
Subfamily:	Faboideae
Tribe:	Phaseoleae
Genus:	Phaseolus
Species:	lunatus
Binomial name
Phaseolus lunatus L.
Synonyms
Phaseolus limensis Macfad.

File:Mochelimabeans.jpg

Moche ceramic vessel with lima beans. Larco Museum Collection. Lima-Peru

Phaseolus lunatus is a legume. It is grown for its seed, which is eaten as a vegetable. It is commonly known as the lima bean or butter bean; it is also known as Haba bean, Pallar bean, Burma bean, Guffin bean, Hibbert bean, Sieva bean, Rangoon bean, Madagascar bean, Paiga, Paigya, prolific bean, civet bean, sugar bean or đậu ngự (Vietnamese).

Origin and uses

The P. lunatus is of Andean and Mesoamerican origin. Two separate domestication events are believed to have occurred. The first, taking place in the Andes around 2000 BC, produced a large-seeded variety (Lima type), while the second, taking place most likely in Mesoamerica around AD 800, produced a small-seeded variety (Sieva type). By 1301, cultivation had spread to North America, and in the sixteenth century the plant arrived and began to be cultivated in the Eastern Hemisphere.

The small-seeded wild form (Sieva type) is found distributed from Mexico to Argentina, generally below 1600 meters above sea level, while the large-seeded wild form (Lima type) is found distributed in the north of Peru, between 320 and 2030 meters above sea level.

The Moche Culture (1-800 AD) cultivated all of the lima beans and often depicted them in their art. During the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, lima beans were exported to the rest of the Americas and Europe, since the boxes of such goods had their place of origin labeled "Lima - Peru", the beans got named as such.

The term butter bean is widely utilized for a large, flat and white variety of lima bean (P. lunatus var. macrocarpus, or P. limensis).

In the Southern United States the Sieva type are traditionally called butter beans, also otherwise known as the Dixie or Henderson type. In that area, lima beans and butter beans are seen as two distinct types of beans.

In the United Kingdom, "butter beans" refer to either dried beans which can be purchased to re-hydrate or the canned variety which are ready to use. In culinary use, lima beans and butter beans are distinctly different, the former being small and green, the latter large and yellow. In areas where both are considered to be lima beans, the green variety may be labeled as "baby" (and less commonly "junior") limas.

Despite the lima bean being named after the city of Lima, Peru, the two have distinctly different pronunciations in most dialects of the English language (and possibly other languages). The city's name is adapted from the Quechua language and is pronounced /ˈliːmə/, while the bean of the same name is pronounced /ˈlaɪmə/.

Varieties

Both bush and pole (vine) varieties exist, the latter from one to four meters in height. The bush varieties mature earlier than the pole varieties. The pods are up to 15 cm long. The mature seeds are 1 to 3 cm long and oval to kidney shaped. In most varieties the seeds are quite flat, but in the "potato" varieties the shape approaches spherical. White seeds are common, but black, red, orange and variously mottled seeds are also known. The immature seeds are uniformly green. Lima beans typically yield 2900 to 5000 kilograms of seed and 3000 to 8000 kilograms of biomass per hectare.

Bush types:

• Henderson/Thorogreen, 65 days
• Eastland, 68 days
• Baby Fordhook, 70 days
• Fordhook 242, 75 days, 1945 AAS winner

Pole types:

• Giant Speckled/Christmas/Speckled Calico, 78 days
• Big 6/Big Mama, 80 days
• King of the Garden, 85 days

Nutritional value

Eating Lima beans, like many other legumes, is a good source of dietary fiber, which they are high in. They also provide a virtually fat free source of high quality protein.

Lima beans contain both soluble fiber, which helps regulate blood sugar levels and lowers cholesterol, and also insoluble fiber, which prevents constipation, digestive disorders, irritable bowel syndrome and diverticulitis.

Blood sugar

The high fiber content in Lima beans prevents blood sugar levels from rising too rapidly after eating them.

This is due to the presence of higher amounts of absorption-slowing protein in the beans, and their high soluble fiber content. Soluble fiber absorbs water in the stomach forming a gel that slows down the metabolism of the bean's carbohydrates.

They can therefore help balance blood sugar levels while providing steady, slow-burning energy, which makes them a good choice for people with diabetes suffering with insulin resistance.

Heart

Soluble fiber also binds with the bile acids that are used to make cholesterol, and because it is not absorbed by the intestines, it exits the body taking the bile acids with it. As a result, the cholesterol level is lowered.

They may therefore help to prevent heart disease, and may reduce the medical dosage required to combat cholesterol in the form of natural food.

Lima beans also promote a healthy heart because of their folate and magnesium. Folate lowers levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that is an intermediate product in an important metabolic process called the methylation cycle. Elevated blood levels of homocysteine are an independent risk factor for heart attack, stroke, or peripheral vascular disease.

Lima's magnesium content is a calcium channel blocker. When enough magnesium is around, veins and arteries relax, which reduces resistance and improves the flow of blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.

Other minerals

Apart from providing slow burning complex carbohydrates, lima beans can increase energy levels by helping to restore more iron. For menstruating women, who are more at risk for iron deficiency, lima beans can be added for iron. Iron is an integral component of hemoglobin, which transports oxygen from the lungs to all body cells, and is also part of key enzyme systems for energy production and metabolism.

Lima beans are a very good source of the trace mineral manganese, and help enzymes important for energy production and antioxidant defense.

Lima beans contain the trace mineral molybdenum, which is an integral component of the enzyme sulfite oxidase, and which detoxifies sulfites. Sulfites are a type of preservative generally added to prepared foods.

Raw lima beans and butter beans contain linamarin, a cyanogenic glucoside. The beans are rendered safe when cooked. Low-linamarin varieties are typically used for culinary purposes. It is possible for one handful of raw beans to make a person violently ill.

Nutrition facts

Lima beans, cooked 1.00 cup 188.00 grams 216.20 calories

Nutrient	Amount	DV (%)	Nutrient Density
Molybdenum	141.00 mcg	188.0	15.7
Tryptophan	0.17 g	53.1	4.4
Dietary Fiber	13.16 g	52.6	4.4
Manganese	0.97 mg	48.5	4.0
Folate	156.23 mcg	39.1	3.3
Protein	14.66 g	29.3	2.4
Potassium	955.04 mg	27.3	2.3
Iron	4.49 mg	24.9	2.1
Copper	0.44 mg	22.0	1.8
Phosphorus	208.68 mg	20.9	1.7
Magnesium	80.84 mg	20.2	1.7
Vitamin B1 (Thiamin)	0.30 mg	20.0	1.7

External links

• Crop Wild Relatives Gap Analysis Portal reliable information source on where and what to conserve ex-situ, regarding Phaseolus genepool
• Plants For A Future: Database Search Results
• Illustrated Legume Genetic Resources Database
• Sorting Phaseolus Names
• Recording of a song called "Butter Beans" from the Florida Folklife Collection (made available for public use from the State Archives of Florida)