Chives

Scientific name: Allium schoenoprasum
Appearance: Chive is a perennial plant with a long stem that can reach up to 40 cm. It has a pompom-shaped flower whose color oscillates between pink and purple.

This aromatic plant, very present in the culinary landscape all over the world, rocked our childhood and continues to intoxicate our taste buds in all its forms: raw or cooked, in a sauce, an entrée, a dish or a condiment.

Growing tips

Chive is an aromatic plant that grows in summer between May and October. It, therefore, needs to be exposed to the sun, but also requires a lot of water. The idea is to water as soon as the soil becomes dry. Aside from that, she does not require much maintenance and knows very well how to cope by herself. You can, however, cut off the majority of the budding flowers to prevent the plant from rising to seed, while leaving a few of them open so that the chives can continue to grow.

Increasingly popular in the apartment, the kitchen garden allows you to have a fresh and organic chive throughout the year in your kitchen, to pick from the pot before seasoning a dish.

Cooking tips

The raw chives go perfectly with a salad or crudités. Its most common use is a condiment, with the famous tartar sauce.
Cooked, it is used most of the time in sauce or accompaniment, to raise the taste of an omelet, a quiche, a soup or a baked potato for example. It is a subtle and fresh ingredient that is also used in marinades or papillotes.
Its flowers are also edible, and make a pretty decoration in a dish or on a plate.

Nutrition

The main nutritional quality of chives is its abundance of vitamin K, which plays a role in blood clotting and bone formation, but it also contains vitamins C and B2, calcium, sodium, phosphorus, and iron. On the other hand, its antioxidant properties make it an excellent preventive treatment (literally): by reducing the action of free radicals, it limits the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases or certain cancers when it is consumed regularly. It also has antibacterial, antiseptic and anti-fungal properties. Finally, chives are also known to facilitate digestion and treat bloating, and would even prevent water retention.