Limas fall into the category of legumes, which are seeds or pods, including beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, and peanuts. Fresh lima beans are harvested in the fall, but most people use dried, frozen, or canned beans.

Are lima beans a vegetable or bean?

Botanically speaking, tomatoes, peas, and lima beans are categorized as fruits, but due to their savory flavors are historically used as vegetables in main meals other than dessert.

Are lima and butter beans the same?

Butter beans are the large beans, limas are smaller and there is a difference in taste as any Southerner will tell you. Just because they say that these are the same beans, doesn't make it so. The butter beans we grow and eat in the South are not even available in the North- But they do exist down here.