Whats to Love About a Lima Bean?
The green, moon-shaped lima bean, also known as butterbean, is a staple of Southern kitchens. Available fresh in states in the South of the United States and canned or frozen elsewhere, lima beans are served as an accompaniment to rice or stirred in with corn to make succotash, although more complex presentations are possible. The lima bean is protein-rich. This is both good and bad. One laboratory found that dried lima bean is up to 71 percent protein. The bean is rich in lecithin that lowers cholesterol in high-cholesterol diets. The simple lima bean is a source of protease inhibitors that inhibit HIV and possibly other viruses. On the other hand, the lima bean, more than most other beans, has a defense mechanism that turns its proteins into poisons when the plant is threatened by insect predators. Raw lima beans contain haemagluttinins that interfere with blood clotting. They also contain trace amounts of cyanide, enough to interfere with the pancreas’ release of the starch-dissolvi
