The CWI Cookbook

 Lima beans, removed from shells
Salt
Pepper
Butter

These beans are very fine, and should be full grown, but quite tender. Having shelled them, rinse them in cold water and boil them till soft, throwing in a small handful of salt; drain and serve them, and put over them pepper and melted butter.

From The Kentucky Housewife by Lettice Bryan, 1839

Comment: We note that these legumes, detested by at least four generations that we know personally, were evidently not in fact engineered in a secret laboratory by enemies attempting to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids, but were indeed known and loved, or at least endured, by our long ago ancestors. If one is confronted with a lima bean and can neither flank nor flee from its presence, this is probably about the best thing you can do with it short of slipping it under the table to the dog.