Lima Bean ?

[Kelly]

Ok I have a bag of dried lima beans from the store, I was told by people here that lima beans (white ones) are the same as butter beans. I like the butter beans you buy in a can so I want to take these beans add bacon and can them like the butter beans at the store. Has anyone done this, have a recipe or ideas for seasoning? Thanks.

[Violet]

Sorry, but you will not be able to safely add bacon. The bacon is too fatty, it will allow botulism to survive even pressure canning. It coats the food particles with fat, like a blanket.

Then, once sealed in a nice cozy jar, that is the perfect home for botulism to grow. It grows in the absence of air, in a sealed jar.

I freeze small little packets of bacon in plastic wrap, enough for one jar of beans. I store the little packs in a ziploc bag. So, when I heat the beans to eat, I add a pack of the bacon and cook then.

 

[MamaTiger]

The dried limas you find in the store are a variety of bean, but not quite the same as *butterbeans* if you are from the south. Butterbeans are speckled and look different.

 

However, can the dried limas the *approved* way. Then when you open them to heat, add butter and bacon then. I usually add chicken broth powder as well to give them more flavor.

 

 

[mom11]

 

Violet????

 

If you were canning dried limas, couldn't you then add a 3/4 inches piece of bacon or fatback, such as you do with the dried beans canned into beans with molasses sauce or tomato based sauce?

 

Thanks....AGAIN!

[Violet]

No, the ph level is not the same. The acid in the others helps preserve it more than adding it to other beans. Unless you find a recipe/method that has it already listed then do not add any other thing like the pork fatback or bacon. It will make it unsafe. All things in canning have to be accounted for. The fat in it will not react the same without the tomato acid, or sugar/molasses as in the other recipes.

Same thing with green beans, bacon cannot be safely added when canning them.

The density can be different in different foods, too, and it all makes a difference when canning.

The only safe thing to add differently to a canning recipe is dry herbs.