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 Allium Schoenoprasum
Try this yummy recipe for Chives and Garlic Dip
Culinary uses:
Related
to the onion and leek, this fragrant herb has slender, vivid green,
hollow stems with mild onion flavor. Fantastic for garlic-chive butter;
Also to add flavor and garnish to baked/boiled potato or salads.
Although chives are more used alone than combined with other fresh
herbs, chervil, tarragon, and parsley are particularly worth trying;
this mixture is known as fines herbes
in French cuisine and is frequently suggested for subtly-flavored cold
and warm dishes, e.g., salads, scrambled eggs, fish and poultry. Fines herbes
can also effectively be enhanced by addition of some cress, cicely or
lemon balm. The chive bulbs make for a fine pickling onion. This is
another heat sensitive herb so best add at the end of cooking. Sprinkle
on food to stimulate appetite and promote digestion.
Tips:
Less
recommendable is the combination of chives with garlic, which would
overpower chives' delicate aroma; much better suited is bear's garlic
with its significantly less dominant fragrance
Storage:
Store
fresh chives in the refrigerator in a plastic bag for up to a week. Do
not wash until ready to use them, as excessive moisture will promote
decay.
Description:
In quite many languages, chives are denoted as a “grassy” variant of
their larger relatives, leek, onion and garlic. They grow to
Origin:
Unknown, maybe Central Asia. Today, the plants grows practically everywhere in Europe, even at high altitude. English chive derives from Latin cepa “onion” via Middle English cyve or cheve, a loan from Old French cive. Note that the singular chive is used for the plant, whereas the spice is usually referred to as plural form chives.
Cultivation:
Although
they thrive in any good garden loam, chives show a preference for
slightly acid soil and need to be kept moist throughout the growing
season. In climates with hot summers, choose a location where they can
enjoy some shade during the day.
Divide
established clumps of bulbs every third spring, and transplant clusters
from the outer edges of the clumps. Alternatively, chives can be raised
afresh each year from seed.
Remove
the flower heads to maintain a constant supply of flavorful leaves. The
foliage dies down in the winter. You can encourage a few early spikes
by covering some of the plants with crushed leaves or straw, or plant
clumps in containers in the fall for early spring chives. Make sure
your container chives get plenty of sun. For an attractive garnish,
allow a few plants to produce flowers.
Chives
are easier to snip with scissors than cut with a knife. The snipped
chives give a hint of onion flavor to egg dishes, cheese soufflés,
salads, soups, cream cheese sandwiches, and sour cream dressing for
baked potatoes. Chive butter is great with grilled chops and steak.
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