What to do with Chives other than salads and baked potatoes?

Was working on the Mullein article, but my mind started thinking about the dumplings on the way home because of Mark asking.... what else can you do with chives? So found myself just typing out a reply - and so, here's the next in a series of herb articles

BACKGROUND / DESCRIPTION

Ok, Mark - this one is for you! What to do with Chives? I’ll start this with my very favorite thing to do with Chives - it’s the secret ingredient in my dumplings! When I serve Chicken - N - Dumplings - people always rave over the dumplings! My kids, my ex, my family - I’ve even had my sister’s husband TWICE comment on food I made being the best he ever had! And yes, my sister slapped him both times! Silly man, never compliment a woman like that right in front of your wife! It’s like saying she can’t cook worth ....... anyway - you can take your favorite dumpling recipe and simply add a couple tablespoons chopped fresh chives - then drop the batter blobs into the thickened liquid the last 10 minutes of cooking, and you’ll have a treat like you can’t believe!

Another fun combination is with cottage cheese - add 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Chives to 1 large container of large curd Cottage Cheese. Stir into the Cottage Cheese, return to the original container and store in the refrigerator over night. Serve the following day. This will last in the refrigerator as long as normal cottage cheese would.

Chives are much more versatile in cooking than people give them credit for. Also excellent in omelets, and most any egg dish - and potatoes too. Be careful not to cook for too long though as it will diminish the flavor - best to add as late in a recipe as possible for optimal flavor. And of course - sprinkled on any salad, soup or sauce adds color as well as flavor.

Besides the flavor, chives are packed with Vitamins A and C. They also contain smaller quantities of Vitamins B1 and B2, as well as calcium, phosphorous and iron.

Other healing properties of chives include: - beneficial to the respiratory system - aid digestion and help to digest fatty foods such as cheese - are good for tiredness and fatigue - act as a diuretic and can reduce obesity and fluid retention - stimulates the appetite - and research indicates that the risk of prostate cancer may be reduced by 50% with regular use of chives.

Plus, with their bright green color, snipped fresh, they add color as well as flavor to any dish. :)

An interesting point about chives (an onions in general) has to do with the aroma while cooking - just the smell of chives or onions cooking can cause a person to pause and think about food. It’s a trick they use in lots of carnivals and fairs - they’ll have a skillet in back slowly simmering onions and garlic in butter - nice and slow, all day.... and as people walk by, they think.. Yum... food.... and while they might not have been hungry or wanted food before getting near the stand, they suddenly find themselves buying something and enjoying it immensely. Probably not even any onion in what they’re eating - but the aroma did it’s trick, and they made a sale that would not otherwise have happened. Bet this happened to most of you at one time or another and you didn’t even know! I took this same idea, and used it when caring for my niece with anorexia. Never told her - but most every time when it was time for her to eat - I’d set about slowly sauteing onion / chives / garlic... ever so slowly in butter.... and it’d smell so good - and she’d eat. I’ve found another reference of someone using chives for just this purpose - quoted from “Heinerman’s Encyclopedia of Healing Herbs and Spices” - page 154:

A Philadelphia gastroenterologist has come up with a pretty simple remedy for eating disorders like anorexia nervosa, an abnormal fear of becoming fat which causes a cessation of eating.

His own adolescent daughter went through a period when she suffered from this. What his wife found by accident, he told me, was the daughter’s sudden interest in the smell of chives. “My wife was cooking for some guests we were having over for dinner that night,” he said. “A few minutes before our daughter came home from school, my wife chopped some chives and had sprinkled them into whatever she was then cooking. Our daughter passed through the kitchen soon thereafter, and the aroma caught her off guard. She told her mother how good that smelled and lingered long enough to savor the aroma of the chives.

“This set us to thinking,” the doctor continued, “that if the smell of this herb inclined her to pause momentarily to consider what was being cooked, then a tea made of the same might just give her enough of a renewed interest in food to get her eating again. My wife chopped up about two heaping tablespoons of chives and simmered them in a pint of boiling water, covered, for about twelve minutes. She added a tiny dab of butter and pinches of salt and white pepper. This she then strained and poured into a cup and set before our daughter, encouraging her to drink it. She told her it was only liquid, not food, and therefore wouldn’t interfere with her determined fasting.

“The aroma of the warm tea, of course, hooked her, and she slowly started sipping it, while doing her homework. Pretty soon, she started looking around for things to nibble on. And before long, she was rejoining us at the dinner table for normal helpings of food.” This doctor credits chives for removing her weight obsession and renewing her interest in food.

The dear doctor above probably didn’t realize how much of a mental illness the disease is - he was fortunate with his daughter, but it is a valid point - the aroma of chives, onions and garlic cooking gently, will bring up an appetite in most anyone - just try it!

Chives is common to many countries, both in the wild state, and cultivated. It’s a perennial plant that grows to about a foot tall from a small, elongated-shaped bulb. The leaves are hollow and cylindrical, closed at the top and dilated to surround the stem at the base. Has small purple flowers - actually quite lovely. Chives is a member of the onion family, but more delicate because they contain less sulfur.

COMMON USES

Historically people didn’t have much use for chives other than in cooking, but we’ve discovered many virtues. Chives don’t send up hot burning vapors form the sulfur oil found in other members of the onion family. The oil is also responsible for the onion flavor, and the medicinal properties of chives. Medicinal use in old days was for cough and respiratory diseases. Another unproven historical use of Allium schoenoprasum was to expel worms and intestinal parasites, and as a mild antiseptic.

The oils of the plant seem to lower blood levels of low-density lipoproteins, the "bad" cholesterol that clogs artery walls. Sulfur oil is antiseptic and helps lower blood pressure, but only in fairly large quantities. Since chives have less of this oil, they have fewer medicinal applications.

Chives are best known for use in cooking. They taste like sweet, mild onions. Mince the fresh, slender leaves and use them in recipes or as a garnish. Whole leaves can be tied decoratively around small bundles of sliced carrots or asparagus.

Chives combines well with shallots, marjoram, and tarragon (french tarragon is the best! - Russian doesn’t compare!) Chives also compliment onions, potatoes, artichokes, asparagus, cauliflower, corn, tomatoes, peas, carrots, spinach, poultry, fish, shellfish, veal, creamy sauces, cheese, and eggs. - Just don’t combine them with ‘sweet’ dishes - won’t work well.

And just in case you didn’t know - the flowers as well as the leaves can be eaten - adds even more color in salads!

And lastly - but not least - chives are a wonderful ‘companion’ plant. They’re recommended to grow with carrots, grapes, roses, and tomatoes. They deter Japanese beetles.

CULTIVATION / GROWING

They can be grown from seed, but cultivation is very slow, and require darkness, constant moisture, and a temperature of 60-70 degrees. Better to just buy some bulbs to start - assuming you don’t already have chives. Look around and you might discover them in or near your yard already! For best growth, chives should be divided every 3 years - it will encourage stronger growth. Plant clumps of up to 6 bulbs 5-8 inches apart in a sunny, well-drained location. Once plants are established, harvest anything over 6 inches tall.

MAGICAL / MYTHICAL USES

Europeans used to tie them up in bunches and hang them around the house. They believed that chives had magical qualities that kept evil forces and spirits away and prevented the occupants of the household from falling ill.

For protection tie a stalk of chives into a knot and visualize the protective powers of this plant. Add the knotted chive leaf to your food. To get rid of a personal problems, visualize the problem being tied into the chives, knot it, then bury it.

Chives were once considered an aphrodisiac. Bunches of chives were hung in the homes of the old world to ward off evil spirits.

WARNINGS & endings....

Chive is safe for most people in food amounts. It also seems to be safe when used in medicinal amounts, which are typically larger. Taking too much chive can cause an upset stomach.

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Chive seems to be safe in amounts found in food, but there's not enough information to know if it is safe in the larger amounts that are used as medicine. Stay on the safe side and avoid using chive as medicine if you are pregnant or breast-feeding.

Herbal link page

Ah yes... and the legal disclaimer - don’t you hate these things? —> The information contained in this page is for educational purposes only and is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. <– ok, that’s done, hope you find this article useful!!

Gail Ann(573) 470-5806spiritguidedhealer@gmail.com

Home | Reiki Healing | Herbs | Articles | SouthernPRIDE | Links

---> Nature's Healing Elixir <---