Herb

Chive

Chive is a mild allium herb grown for hollow green leaves and edible purple flowers. Common chives (Allium schoenoprasum) taste delicately oniony; garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) are flatter-leaved and more garlicky, essential in Chinese and broader East Asian cooking. Snipped fresh over eggs, potatoes, soups, and soft cheeses, chives lose character when long-cooked. Flowers add colour and gentle onion perfume to salads. Freeze-dried and fresh forms dominate retail herb packs.

Also known as: Ciboulette, Jiucai / Nira, Nira, Schnittlauch

Track this ingredient

Quantity

Unit

Note

Explore further

Flower

Leaf

Stem

Breeds, cuts & preparations

Variety

AlbumAllium nutansAllium schoenoprasumAllium tuberosumChinese ChiveCommon ChiveFine Leaf ChiveFlat Leaf Garlic ChiveFlowering Garlic ChiveForescateGarlic ChiveGiant ChiveGrolauNiraPink Chive FlowerPurlySiberian ChiveStaro

Source

HydroponicIndoor FarmedOutdoor FarmedWild

Provenance

BiodynamicFair TradeGreenhouse GrownHeirloomHeritage SeedLocally GrownNon-GMOOpen PollinatedOrganicPesticide FreeRegenerativeSeasonal

Preparation

BruisedChilledChoppedCrackedDriedFreeze DriedFreshFrozenGroundInfusedMincedPastePickledPowderRubbedSeededToastedTornWhole

CommonCharacteristic

AromaticDelicateFreshGarlicGreenHerbaceousMildOnion

History

3000 BCE

Wild chives were foraged across Europe and Asia long before systematic garden cultivation.

800CN

Garlic chives became established in Chinese cookery as a distinct allium green and flowering vegetable.

1500FR

Chives entered formal European kitchen gardens and fines herbes traditions in French cuisine.

1900

Commercial bunching and freeze-dried chives made the herb a standard supermarket garnish worldwide.