The name calico beans comes from the different colors of beans in the dish. The word "calico" is a type of fabric that is usually pretty colorful with prints of small flowers. I used some pork and beans (just your plain pork and beans and those are usually cooked from navy beans. Then we toss in some butter beans (which are dried lima beans, cooked…I detest lima beans but cooked butter beans are different, they have a nice texture) and then some red kidney beans. You can substitute other beans like pinto beans if you want.