How to Pick Butter Beans

Butter beans are high in vitamins and minerals.

Butter beans (Phaseolus lunatus), also known as lima beans, are flat, moon-shaped beans valued for their buttery, somewhat nutty flavor and smooth texture. Lima beans are heat-loving plants grown in either pole or bush varieties. Bush type butter beans are smaller and are ready for harvest sooner than larger, pole-type butter beans. Butter beans are removed from the pod and either eaten fresh or dried for use during the winter.

Instructions

1. Watch for butter beans to show signs of readiness. Butter beans are ready to pick when the beans are still bright green and not yet turning yellow. The pods will feel firm and plump. Pole butter beans are ready approximately 80 days after picking, while bush butter beans are ripe after about 65 days.

2. Pull the beans off the vines carefully to avoid damaging the vine. You can also remove the beans from the plant with kitchen shears. Harvest butter beans as soon as the beans are ready, as removing the beans will cause the vines to produce more blooms. Butter bean plants produce two or three crops during the season before the vines turn brown and dry.

3. Remove butter beans from the shell before cooking. To remove the beans, snap the stem from the top of the pod, then open the pod by pulling the stem straight down along the side of the pod. Remove the beans from the open pod. Place butter beans in the vegetable section of your refrigerator, where the beans will keep for up to a week.

4. Dry butter beans if you want to store the beans, as dry beans will keep up to three years when stored in a cool, dry place. To dry butter beans, let the butter beans remain on the vines until you can hear the beans rattle inside the brown, dry pods. Harvest the beans, then open the pods and remove the beans. Spread the beans on a tray in a single layer to dry for at least two weeks, then store the dry butter beans in an airtight glass or plastic container.

References

• University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture; UT Gardens' Plant of the Month: Heirloom Butterbeans; Terumi Saito
• Arizona Cooperative Extension: Vegetable Garden
• RecipeTips.com: Lima Bean
• Harvest to Table; How to Grow Lima Beans; Stephen Albert; March 2009
• Mississippi State University Extension; Harvesting the Garden; October 2010
• Organic Facts: Nutritional Value of Navy Beans and Lima Beans