Chive Volunteer Plants
Spring has been slow to warm up this year. But that hasn’t stopped the chives from dutifully popping up.
My chives are the first garden herbs I look for each spring. And I can’t wait until they’re grown to pick them.
At one inch tall, I carefully pinch off a few new chive leaves to add to my omelet. Luckily, the chive plants don’t seem to mind, and I have an abundant crop of chives in my garden within a couple of weeks.
Spring Chive Plant Volunteers:
If you left the seed heads on your chive plants over the winter as I often do, you may have small patches of chives popping out in other areas of your herb garden near the mother plant. This is the easiest way I know of to increase my supply of chives — let mother nature do the work!
Leave the young volunteer chive plants where they have self-sown in the garden, or carefully transplant them to another location. If you don’t want the new chive plants, cut them down and eat them. Or share the young chive plants with a friend or two.
Culinary Versatility of Chives:
In the spring, the chive leaves are tender with a mild onion-like flavor. Because of their mild onion flavor, chives can be added to almost any dish in the final stages of cooking, or sprinkled on top just before serving.
Favorite culinary uses for chives :
- Add finely chopped chives to salad dressings
- Toss snipped chives in with salad greens
- Stir chopped chives into soups and stews just before serving. The chives brighten up these hearty dishes
- Add chives to omelets, quiches, deviled eggs. Chives pair very well with egg dishes.
- Mix in chopped chives with tuna salad/filling for a hint of spring in tuna sandwiches
- Add chives to steamed vegetables
- Add chopped chives to stir-fries or fried rice. This is a great way to use chives later in the summer, when the leaves are tougher.
And my all-time favorite way to enjoy the first chives of spring:
- Boil Yukon Gold potatoes until tender. Drain. Add in butter, very finely chopped young chives, and a bit of salt. Toss gently until the butter is melted. Just that touch of heat from the potatoes releases more flavor from the chives. The chives also gently infuse the butter with a hint of chive flavor.
Ahh, spring on a plate.
What is your all-time favorite way to enjoy chives?
Happy growing,
Herb Garden Gal
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