Lima Beans
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beans
Shell and clean the Lima beans by hand.
Separate the beans into two sizes using rotary sieves.
Spread the beans on a table and pick out yellow and imperfect beans.
Blanch and can
Crisp the beans in cold water.
Blanch the beans in boiling water for 2 minutes.
Place the beans in cans and fill with hot 2.5% brine.
Cap, tip, and process the cans.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Lima beans
- Form the main body of the dish, providing starch and a creamy, tender texture when cooked.
- Hot 2.5% brine
- Seasons the beans and helps them keep their texture and flavor inside the can.
The step that matters
Blanch the beans in boiling water for 2 minutes. Blanching inactivates enzymes that would otherwise cause off-flavors and color loss during storage. Too short a blanch leaves enzymes active, while too long softens the beans and washes out flavor.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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