I like both lima beans & butter beans, but not for the same purpose. Small 'lima' beans are firm, and I just added some to a 3-bean (4 actually) salad... along with cucumber, red & green peppers and cut green beans, garbanzos and red beans. (add some sugar & a cup of red wine vinegar.) Large ones are soft, and are eaten 'straight' as a side dish. I like them with meat loaf.
In recent years, we get Glory-seasoned beans, which are very well done and not over-seasoned.

Many years ago, I worked at Stokley-Van Camp's cannery, and often had an 8 oz. can of soft Butter Beans...right out of the can.


" There are two common varieties of lima bean — the baby lima bean and the Fordhook — but don't confuse them as the same bean in different stages of development. The Fordhook is larger, lighter in color, and has a stronger taste than the baby lima, but it is not a grown-up baby — it is a separate variety.

In the south of the United States, Fordhook lima beans are commonly called butter beans. Indeed, one of our readers says many southerners wouldn't recognize the name lima bean. These larger beans are also known as butter beans in Europe, or Madagascar beans, since most lima beans sold in Europe are grown in Madagascar (or Mauritius). "