Wertach, I mailed you thru the gardenweb. Hope it got thru to you. This morning I went out and picked a bucket of Harry's HTD speckle butterbeans. Had to use a ladder to pick some of them out of my orange tree. Had planted them at the edge of the tree so they wouldn't get full sun during the hot weather. They did not make during the hot weather but as soon as it cooled off they were very prolific. In the picture the hulls had four beans. Harry I don't remember what beans you crossed to develop this HTD bean but it is a winner. We were hoping it would make during the hot summer here in Florida but it wouldn't. I have a couple hundred seed I will mail out in 25 packs to anyone that wants to give them a try. E-mail me your mailing address and I will send them to you. Harry's HTD ButterBean Luther

Interesting, Bcnu. How long were you there? Did you have a chance to observe the performance of the vines over several years? While "7 Year" sounds worth growing, it should be noted that many limas will grow as perennials in tropical climates. San Diego doesn't always get a frost, and when that happened, my "King of the Garden" limas would winter over. However, while the yield the second year was very early, the quality was not as good as the first year from seed. It's been a bear of a year for me here; but the "Madagascar" limas that I mentioned earlier in the thread went in as planned, and survived the flooding that killed much of my garden. The vines, while not as vigorous as they should be, are blossoming & just beginning to form pods. As a rule, if I have blossoms by August 15th, I should get dry seed... so there is cause for optimism. The "Midwest monsoon" has finally broken, and the weather now is consistently 80's day/60's night - perfect bean weather. I'll post updates on this thread later in the season.

Susy that recipe from BF sounds very similar to my "Elegant Lima Beans" recipe. I have never made it with the older, white dried limas but I'm going to try it this weekend because I have some to use up. Note that my recipe calls for a lot less water than Bobby's. Elegant Lima Beans 4 cups cooked lima beans (I use the green baby limas, the frozen ones, but I'll bet this would be good with the white butter bean limas too. I've seen both green limas and butter beans sold canned some places. I just cooked up a batch of dry limas for the first time last year and I really liked them. I make my beans in the crockpot.) 1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce 4 oz. shredded swiss cheese. I use jarlsburg, or kasseri cheese, but I'll bet you could use feta. 1 - 3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I use the lower amount, walnuts are high in calories and fat. I'll bet you could even go down to 2/3 cup on those.) 1/4 tsp. dried basil, crumbled, (or maybe a little more, depends on how you feel about basil, I love it) 1 green pepper, diced (I also sometimes add a small diced zuchinni, which you can also add or sub. for the green pepper since some people don't like peppers. Can also use celery if you like it. Start with what you know you will like though. The additional veggies add more good fiber but I guess you could leave them out if you hate those green veggies.) 3/4 cup water or veg. broth, unsalted if possible 1/2 tsp. salt (you could experiment with less, I almost always use less than the recipe calls for, or even omit because canned tomato sauce has salt in it. I get unsalted veg. broth bouillon cubes in the health food section of Wegman's, but if you can't find unsalted broth, then use water or leave out additional salt.) 1/4 tsp. pepper minced parsley to garnish Combine cooked or defrosted limas, vegetables, tomato sauce and water or broth. Simmer 10-15 min. until vegetables are just starting to get tender. Mix in shredded cheese and walnuts, and bake in 350 degree oven for 30 min. Notes: You can toast the walnuts in the oven as it is preheating before adding them to the casserole, but watch them carefully so they don't burn. Usually about 8 min. in the oven at 300 is enough to toast. I hardly ever have fresh parsley so I stir in about 1-2 tsp. dried parsley to the stew before putting it in the oven.

Large, dried limas are one of my favorite soul food dishes. The ingredients are simple. You don't need an elaborate recipe. The goodness comes from the method. I believe those who don't like limas have had ones which were poorly prepared. That could be unappetizing. Done right they are delicate and comforting. I never thought of using chicken broth. I start by making stock with the ham hocks and onion. If I used chicken, it would be a substitute for ham hocks. Ham hocks provide collagen. Chicken feet do too, as we know. The stock is cooked a long time (That's how I write a recipe. Precision is everything.) I remove the tasty meat bits which will remain in the pot and discard the rest. The soaked beans (I use the quick soak method due to my failure to plan ahead) are then simmered gently in the broth. The object is to get them to the consistency of firm butter or ripe avocado while retaining their shape and not popping out of their skins, and have a gravy-like sauce. You can't be careless and achieve that. It depends on cooking time, amount of stock and a special technique. The special technique is to remove some beans when they have become soft enough and mash them. Add them back as as thickener. Good beans can be made without doing this, but it takes extra skill and a little luck. Even this technique requires some judgement. I wonder, would it spoil the fun if I worked out an accurate recipe? Keep some watering simmering in case you need to add more. Don't use cold water. Season toward the beginning with red pepper flakes and toward the end with salt. I think the collagen in the stock develops better after a period of chilling, but I always serve this right away and there is not much left to experiment with. The crockpot method may be good. Slow cooking seems right for this. I need to try it and see if achieve the same results. Corn bread is a story for another time. Jim