Chive bulbs can give life to new seedlings, to always have this great aroma available in the kitchen.
Chives can be grown easily from scraps. Here's how to have a new plant always ready to flavor your recipes.
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What is it and where to buy it
THEchive it is a small aromatic plant widely used in cooking to flavor sauces, vegetables and other recipes. The aerial part of Allium schoenoprasum has indeed a very pleasant aroma, similar to that of onion or shallot, but decidedly more delicate. The chive plant belongs to the Liliaceae family and develops from small underground bulbs from which fasciculate roots and leaves and hollow stems, of a beautiful light and bright green, arise.
Chives are generally sold cut and packaged, but you can also buy chive seedlings or bunches with the bulb. If you are growing the chive plant in the garden or in a pot, it is sufficient to wait after each cut for the seedling to start growing again to make it emit leaves and stems. If, on the other hand, you buy chives with the bulbs still on, the scraps can be used to create new shoots.
How to grow chives from scraps
Cultivating thechives from scraps it is very simple and does not differ from growing other similar herbs and vegetables, such as leeks, fennel, onions and shallots. Once the green part is used, the little ones bulbs they can in fact be placed in a glass container with a finger of water and placed in a bright position, for example on a window sill.
@Mehriban Aliyeva / 123rf
The bulbs must always be covered by water and, in a short time, they will develop small rootlets and, subsequently, new leaves and stems. From that moment it is possible to continue growing chives in hydroponics, taking care to replace the water at least once a week, or you can move the seedlings into a jar with earth. Of course, the aerial part can also be cut and used in the kitchen.
How it is used in the kitchen
To use chives in cooking, simply cut off a portion of the aerial part with scissors. Then it is rinsed under water and cut into small segments: the cut allows you to break the cells of the plant and release its aroma. It is used uncooked, adding it to summer salads, cold pasta or sauces.
It is excellent for flavoring vegan preparations that replace the fresh spreadable cheeses which are made with soy yogurt poured for five to six hours and flavored with finely chopped chives, garlic powder and a pinch of salt.
Read also:
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- Chives: the fantastic properties, benefits and how to use it in the kitchen
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