Chives
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? Chives |
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| Allium schoenoprasum Regel & Tiling |
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Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are a species of flowering plant in the onion family Alliaceae, native to Europe and Asia. They are referred to only in the plural, because they grow in clumps rather than alone.
It is a bulb-forming herbaceous perennial plant, growing to 30-50 cm tall. The bulbs are slender conic, 2-3 cm long and 1 cm broad, and grow in dense clusters from the roots. The leaves are hollow tubular, up to 50 cm long, and 2-3 mm in diameter, with a soft texture. The flowers are pale purple, star-shaped with six tepals, 1-2 cm wide, and produced in a dense inflorescence of 10-30 together; before opening, the inflorescence is surrounded by a papery bract. The seeds are produced in a small three-valved capsule, maturing in summer.
Uses
Chives are grown for their leaves, which are used as a vegetable or a herb; they have a somewhat milder flavour than onions, green onions or garlics. Among the latter three Allium plants, chives resemble most the ordor of green onions, which may explain one of the two Chinese names of chives, 細香蔥, meaning "thin fragrant green onions".
Chives are chopped raw and typically used for seasoning salads and omelettes, or as a topping for baked potatoes. Unlike the occasional use in Japanese cuisine, they are almost not used in Chinese cuisine. It may be confounding that green onions or Chinese chives (also referred as garlic chives), instead of chives, are actually used in Chinese cuisine as a garnish in a number of stir fry dishes. Garlic chives are sometimes used as long cuts, and tossed in after cooking is complete, for both colour and their not-so-strong flavor.
Cultivation
Chives thrive in well drained soil, rich in organic matter, with a pH of 6.0-7.0 and full sun. They tolerate light shade, but 6-8 hours of direct light is best.
Chives can be grown from seed when mature in summer, or early the following spring. Typically chives need to be germinated at a temperature of 15 °C to 20 °C and kept moist. They can also be planted under a cloche or germinated indoors in cooler climates then planted out later. After at least four weeks the young shoots should be ready to be planted out.
The easiest way to cultivate chives is to dig up a good sized clump of them pull the mass of little bulbs apart and replant them. It is suggested that this should be done every 2-3 years.
Chives die back to the underground bulbs in winter, with the new leaves appearing in early spring. They can also be cut back if they are looking worse for wear, with a cut to a height of 2-5 cm encouraging new growth.
History and Folklore
The ancient Chinese are the first documented to be using chives, as long ago as 3000 years B.C.
The Romans believed chives could relieve the pain from sunburn or a sore throat. They believed that eating chives would increase blood pressure and acted as a diuretic.
Romanian Gypsies have used chives in fortune telling.
It was believed that bunches of dried chives hung around a house would ward off disease and evil.