chagrinvalleyherbsociety Fun Facts
Growing
Commonly known as garden chives, Allium schoenoprasum, has purple blooms in spring to early summer and leaves that are cylindrical-shaped and hollow. Garlic Chives, Allium tuberosum, have white flowers in summer and flat, lance-shaped leaves. Chives are in the allium or onion family. It is a hardy perennial. Slender bulbs are clustered on a rhizome. Plants grow in clumps up to 12” across and grow 4-24” tall. Chives grow very well in Ohio and are hardy from zones 3-9. Flowers blossom in June and July. Although, the flowers are often removed to keep the plant from getting bitter. If not removed, small black seeds similar to onion seeds are formed. Plants can be cultivated from seed. However, more frequently plants are cultivated by dividing clumps in spring or autumn. Beds should be replanted once every 3-4 years. Plants need rich soil, a fair amount of water and full sun. Per Carrots Love Tomatoes, chives are a good companion to carrots, improving both growth and flavor. Planted in apple orchards, they help prevent apple scab.
Historical
Native to East Asia (particularly China), chives have been used for culinary purposes for over 5,000 years. Spice traders carried chives to ancient Rome via the Silk Road. The ancient Romans correlated the strong-tasting chive to physical strength and fed them to racehorses, wrestlers, and workers to make them strong. Many people believed that stronger-tasting herbs had greater healing power, so chives were believed to improve appetite, kidney function and blood pressure. In addition, it was used to relieve sunburn and sore throat pain. Chives were also thought to be a poison antidote. After the fall of Rome, chives fell out of common use, until Marco Polo brought chives to Europe from China in the late 13th century. Chives came to the New World with early settlers. Dutch settlers in America obtained chive-scented milk for cheese by planting chives in their cow pastures.
Medicinal Uses
For educational purposes only, don’t try this at home…Chive “grass” and flowers are an appetizer and digestive. Chives help to stimulate appetite and promote digestive processes. The plant also contains iron and arsenic (in harmless amounts) and may therefore be helpful with anemia. There has not been significant development of chives for medicinal uses as it has similar properties as other plants in the allium family like leeks, onion and garlic who have stronger constituents.
Culinary
The delicate onion flavor of chives is often paired with potatoes, eggs, vegetables, and breads. Chives can be the focus of flavored butters and salad dressings. Allium schoenoprasum is also excellent in savory omelettes and may be chopped and boiled with potatoes that are to be mashed or chopped fresh and sprinkled, just before serving on mashed potatoes both as a garnish and for flavoring. They are a welcome improvement to homemade sausages and croquettes.
Tips:
• Both the leaves and the flowers of the hardy chive plant are edible.
• Use chives fresh or add them towards the end of the cooking time for the best flavor
• The edible flowers can be added to salads and other dishes. Select flowers early in the season, before the seeds begin to form.
• Chive blossoms make a beautiful pink, chive-flavored vinegar when steeped for a few weeks in white wine vinegar.
• Chives are best when fresh. The flavor of air-dried chives is greatly diminished.
• Between seasons, chives can be frozen and used as needed. To freeze, wash and dry leaves in cool water. When dry, chop, and freeze in an airtight container.
• Otherwise, transplant a cluster of chives in a five-inch pot in late summer and sink the pot into the ground. After the first killing frost, mulch the pot or put it into a cold frame for 90 days. Chives need this rest period to rejuvenate. Then bring the pot into the house and put it in a sunny location. Give it water. By January, there will be a fresh supply of chives for harvesting.
Recipes
Garlic Chive Potato Salad
4 red boiling potatoes, scrubbed clean, with skin on 2-3 tablespoons garlic chives, to taste
4-5 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 cucumber
4 celery stalks 2-4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon prepared mustard Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a large pot of boiling water, boil the potatoes until they can be pierced easily with the tip of a knife, about 20 minutes. Drain and let them cool until they can be handled. Cut the potatoes, skin and all, into rough ¾ inch cubes and place them in a large bowl. Stir in the red wine vinegar and let sit, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the other ingredients. Scrub the celery and cut it into small chunks. Peel the cucumber, seed it and cut it into small chunks. Rinse the garlic chives, dry and chop finely, reserving a few attractive tips for garnish. When the potatoes are cool, stir in the vegetables, chives, mayonnaise, and mustard. Season to taste with salt and pepper and adjust the mayonnaise-to-vinegar ratio to suit you. The salad tastes best if it is left to sit in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving to allow the flavors to mingle. Stir well before serving and arrange the reserved chive tips on top.
Serves 4 as a side dish.
Rogers, Juliette. 1999. Growing and Using Chives. Storey Communications: VT
There were some other great recipes on The Herb Society of America’s website. You can find them at: Microsoft Word – Recipes Chives 2023.docx (herbsociety.org).
These include: Savory Chive Biscuits, Beef Antipasto with Chive Salsa and Meyer Lemon Chive Mayo recipe. I hope I have the time to bake the biscuits. I’m on the eats committee this month and I think they would go great with soup! Also, the chives in my garden should be perfect to add to the recipe.
Much of the text is supplied with permission by The Herb Society of America.
