Herbs: chives and garlic chives, 1 by pajaritomt

pajaritomt wrote:
Here is a picture of my garlic chives. I took it just a few minutes ago. I have a large bed full of them because a) they spread b) they are yummy c) I like the flower. The Asians use them a lot -- in eggs, pork dumplings and as a vegetable dish. They do have a garlic-onion taste, you eat only the leaves and can eat the little individual flowers as well. You can sprinkle the little flowers all over the top of a salad. Craig Claiborne's Chinese cookbook has a recipe for duck stir fried with these Garlic chives. I haven't tried the recipe yet, but I have a friend who says it is yummy and you make it out of an already cooked duck -- do it yourself or buy one at the Chinese grocery, already barbecued. It uses 3 cups of garlic chives, chopped.
Regular chives have a round leaf like a tiny onion, and cute little purple flowers in the spring. The Western chives are mostly used for decoration. They are often served chopped as a garnish on baked potato with sour cream or they are chopped and sprinkled on top of Vichysoisse. Both are worth growing and are very easy to grow.

This message was edited Jul 21, 2006 5:11 PM