Lima beans were named for the capital of Peru, where they have been growing for at least 7, 500 years.

NPR: Falling in Love with Limas

For those of us who loathe fish and celery and lima beans and walnuts, the Mediterranean Diet is a nutritional death sentence.

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But a note of caution: Lima beans should not be eaten raw.

NPR: Falling in Love with Limas

Tender, succulent and nutty-tasting, with a kiss of the fire over which they'd been cooked, these were not the lima beans I remembered.

NPR: Falling in Love with Limas

Lima beans were a staple in my mother's New England kitchen, bridging the span between autumn's bounty and the harvest of spring vegetables.

NPR: Falling in Love with Limas

There are also tiny quantities of it in cigarette smoke, and even smaller amounts in almonds, the pits of stone fruits such as apricots and lima beans.

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Instead, they created the illusion of action by spreading the many components of the settlement among various committees--much as kids spread lima beans around their plates to create the illusion of eating them.

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There are two principal types of lima beans.

NPR: Falling in Love with Limas

And this is the time of year to find fresh lima beans at farmer's markets, where knowing shoppers grab them up, hurry home and shell the pods right before throwing the tender beans into boiling water.

NPR: Falling in Love with Limas

Around our house, when not infected by the Birdseye plague, real food often meant chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and cream gravy, sugar peas, field peas, black-eyed peas, lima beans, green beans, all greens, ambrosia, okra, corn, tomato aspic, squash casseroles, pot roast, fried fish, chicken and dumplings, hot rolls, biscuits, cornbread, cakes, pies, fudge, divinity and Mama's homemade vegetable soup, which was world famous in our family.

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