You can find the calories, carbohydrates, and nutritional information of Fresh Frozen Items Inc – Speckled Butter Beans and over 2,000,000 other foods. Margaret Holmes Seasoned Butter Beans, Canned, has 115 calories per 1/2 cup (5 oz). To burn 115 calories, you’d have to walk for 31 minutes. CalorieKing has calorie and nutritional information for all portion sizes. Potassium 508mg & 13% Iron. The Percent Daily Value (DV) of a nutrient in a portion of food indicates how much it contributes to a daily diet. The standard nutrition advice is 2,000 calories per day.
The nutritional content of lima beans varies depending on which variety you choose, and canning lima beans have significantly more sodium than fresh, dried, or frozen lima beans. According to LIVESTRONG’s food database MyPlate, butter beans provide 80 and 115 calories per half-cup portion. If you base your daily calorie intake on the recommended level of 2,000 calories, one serving of butter beans will give about 4% to 5% of your daily calorie consumption.
Nutrition Facts of Butter Beans
What are Butter Beans?
Butter beans are giant, creamy, complete, and healthy beans. These legumes come from South America and can be found in several recipes. Fresh beans are available during the late summer growing season, and fresh-frozen or dried beans all year.
A thin skin surrounds a pale green bean in fresh young beans (also known as baby limas), which can be removed after cooking or left intact depending on the use. When fully cooked, mature dried butter beans have a thicker, beige-colored skin that turns soft.
What are the Health Benefits of Butter Beans?
- Low-Calorie, Low-Fat Food- Butter beans are a low-fat, low-calorie snack that is excellent for you. Butter beans provide 115 calories per 100 grams in a 1/2 cup meal. Butter beans are a low-energy-dense food, meaning they have a low-calorie content in their serving size. Incorporating more low-energy-density foods into your diet will help you control hunger while limiting your calorie consumption, aiding weight loss or maintenance. Butter beans are a healthy alternative to fatty meats heavy in cholesterol-raising saturated fat because they are a very low-fat source, with only one gram per 1/2 cup.
- Healthy Carbs in Butter Beans- Carbohydrates like those found in butter beans should be an essential part of your diet to keep your body energized. While carbohydrates can be found in several foods, most carbs must come from healthy sources. Beans are among the healthiest foods, such as butter beans. Butter beans include 17 grams of carbohydrates per 1/2 cup consumption.
- Protein Content of Butter Beans- Butter beans are high in protein, which is necessary for cell, tissue, and muscle repair. A 1/2-cup serving of butter beans provides 6 grams of protein, which counts toward your daily protein requirement of 46 grams for women and 56 grams for men. Butter beans are classified as incomplete proteins since they lack all essential amino acids. Serve your beans with rice, lentils, seeds, or maize to form a complete protein meal.
Additional Benefits of Butter Beans
- Vitamins and Mineral Content- According to Mercola Food Facts, butter beans supply about half of your daily manganese requirements and iron, zinc, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and essential antioxidants. To assist transfer oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body, you need enough iron. According to the Office of Dietary Supplements, zinc is required for cellular metabolism and promotes the immune system, wound healing, and cell division. Magnesium aids protein synthesis and is required for energy production. Butter beans are also high in B vitamins, particularly thiamine, riboflavin, and folate, which are required to convert carbohydrates into energy.
- Beans Excel in Fiber- Butter beans’ significant health advantage is the fiber they give. Dietary fiber intake in the United States is currently at 15 grams per day, well below the recommended amount of 25 to 30 grams per day from food. According to Mercola Food Facts, a 1/2 cup portion of butter beans provides 53% of your daily needs. Fiber-rich beans function as a laxative and are essential for good digestion and colon protection. Bean fiber also helps lower blood cholesterol by reducing re-absorption in the intestines, reducing your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.
Butter Beans
How to Use Butter Beans?
Dried butter beans are a versatile pantry staple that may be used in various dishes, including soups, stews, braises, casseroles, dips, spreads, and salads, to mention a few. They can also be prepared and served with a simple butter, salt, and lemon juice dressing.
Boiling dried butter beans and then simmering them on the stovetop or braising them in the oven for a few hours are two options. To cut down on cooking time, soak them overnight for several hours. Butter beans work well in crockpot and pressure cooker recipes as well. Fresh or frozen butter beans can be cooked a fraction of the time, usually in less than 30 minutes, and are best cooked on the stovetop.
Butter beans should not be eaten raw because they contain a chemical called linamarin. When chewed or broken, it breaks down into lethal cyanide. Beans grown in the United States are regulated to have relatively low levels. The amount of cyanide in butter beans is reduced by boiling them for five to ten minutes.
What do they Taste Like?
Butter beans have a mellow, buttery flavor and a smooth, creamy texture, and they hold sauces well and absorb the flavors of the food they’re cooked with. Fresh butter beans have a grassy, vegetal flavor than dried beans. These cream-colored beans are named after a dairy product with a similar creamy consistency. The rest of the bean-eating world refers to them as limas. They’re flat and chewy, with a moderate flavor and a pea-green to off-white color.
Where to Buy Butter Beans?
Dried butter beans, also known as lima beans, can be found in the pantry section of most grocery shops. In the canned products section, they’re also available pre-cooked in cans. Whether baby or adult, Lima beans are also available frozen in the freezer section.
Butter beans are more difficult to come by fresh, never frozen, and are only available during their season, usually late summer to early fall in the United States. Look for them at farmers’ markets and farm stands during this time of year. Fresh beans can be purchased shelled or with their green, fuzzy pods still attached, which must be removed and discarded before cooking.
Conclusion
Butter beans have various names depending on the locale, even though they are all the same bean botanically. Butter beans are their name in the South and the United Kingdom. They’re known as lima beans in other parts of the United States (the bean’s origin) after Lima, Peru. Dry butter beans should be stored in an airtight, food-safe container in an excellent, dry location. They must be used within a year of purchase. Dry beans lose moisture beyond that point and may take longer to cook. Frozen butter beans can be kept in their original packaging for up to nine months in the freezer. Vacuum-sealed can be kept for up to 14 months in a deep freezer. If you’re going to freeze fresh lima beans, blanch them for two to four minutes, depending on their size. Before packaging and freezing, shock, strain, and chill.
Butter beans, also known as lima beans, are used in various cuisines because of their nutritional value. It takes around 30 minutes to boil fresh butter beans and beans soaked for six hours.
To cook butter beans, shell them and thoroughly wash them before placing them in a saucepan with water and salt. Drain when tender, add butter, and season with pepper before serving. You can add sauteed onions or red pepper flakes if desired. Another option is to drizzle olive oil, salt, lime juice, and cayenne pepper over the cooked beans and bake them. Beans leftover can be sprinkled on salads, used in soups, or added to pasta for additional protein. You may also use canned butter beans for a quick and easy meal, but keep in mind that the salt content is higher.
