About Butter Beans

Butter beans are small beans about the size of a penny. They were initially cultivated between A.D. 1 and 500, during the Spanish occupation of Peru. Butter beans are also known as Lima beans, after the capital of Peru, where they were initially harvested.

Other Names

Butter beans are most commonly known as Lima beans but have also been called sugar beans, Burma beans, Rangoon beans and prolific beans.

Types

There are two main types of butter beans, pole beans and bush beans. Bush beans grow in small shrubs and mature faster than pole beans, which grow in vines.

Size

The pods of butter beans are typically 15 centimeters long, while the individual beans range from 1 to 3 cm long. The butter bean bush grows between 1 to 4 m high.

Location

Butter beans are found in North and South America, from Mexico south to Argentina. Small bean varieties are only found at elevations lower than 1,500 meters above sea level, while the large bean plants are found primarily north of Peru between 300 and 2000 meters above sea level.

Warning

Butter beans contain a cyanogenic glucoside called linamarin. Linamarin, when eaten raw, can cause severe illness. However, once they are cooked, butter beans are safe to ingest.