allium schoenoprasum

also known as chives !
my mom arrived this afternoon & will stay for a couple of days. I have another post in the making, and which will be posted tomorrow, but for today, I will talk about chives, aka Allium schoenoprasum.

I love these flowers, & I always have. They remind me a lot of scabious, and bees & bumblebees seem to love them too. Right before dinner, I grabbed a stem & crunched it with a bite of fresh bread, oh yum, that was quite a tasty snack :)

as I love to learn something new everyday, I did a little research, and gathered informations about chives. Let me share them with you now ...

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are the smallest species of the onion family Alliaceae, native to Europe, Asia and North America.

Chives are one of the "fines herbes" of French cuisine, which also include tarragon, chervil and/or parsley.

Chives can be dry-frozen without much impairment to its taste, giving home growers the opportunity to store large quantities harvested from their own garden.

Its flowers are attractive to bees, which are important for gardens with an abundance of plants in need of pollination.

Chives are rich in vitamins A and C, contain trace amounts of sulfur, and are rich in calcium and iron.

Chives can be grown from seed and mature in summer, or early the following spring. Typically, chives need to be germinated at a temperature of 15 °C to 20 °C and kept moist. They can also be planted under a cloche or germinated indoors in cooler climates, then planted out later. After at least four weeks, the young shoots should be ready to be planted out.

Chives are also easily propagated by division.

In cold regions, chives die back to the underground bulbs in winter, with the new leaves appearing in early spring.

Chives starting to look old can be cut back to about 2–5 cm. When harvesting, the needed number of stalks should be cut to the base. During the growing season, the plant will continually regrow leaves, allowing for a continuous harvest.

Chives have been cultivated in Europe since the Middle Ages, although signs of its usage date back to 5000 years ago. The Romans believed chives could relieve the pain from sunburn or a sore throat. They believed that eating chives would increase blood pressure and acted as a diuretic.

Alliums (leeks, chives, garlic, garlic chives) - Known as the "Flowering Onions." There are approximately four hundred species that includes the familiar onion, garlic, chives, ramps, and shallots. All members of this genus are edible. Their flavors range from mild onions and leeks right through to strong onion and garlic. All parts of the plants are edible. The flowers tend to have a stronger flavor than the leaves and the young developing seed-heads are even stronger. We eat the leaves and flowers mainly in salads. The leaves can also be cooked as a flavoring with other vegetables in soups, etc.

One very important thing that you need to remember is that not every flower is edible.
In fact, sampling some flowers can make you very, very sick.

- you also should NEVER use pesticides or other chemicals on any part of any plant that produces blossoms you plan to eat.

- never harvest flowers growing by the roadside.

- identify the flower exactly and eat only edible flowers, and edible parts of those flowers.

- always remember to use flowers sparingly in your recipes due to the digestive complications that can occur with a large consumption rate. Most herb flowers have a taste that's similar to the leaf, but spicier. The concept of using fresh edible flowers in cooking is not new.

..... aside from chives talking, well my Monday went by in quite a wink of an eye. I managed to order 4 custom rubberstamps to a very local (two streets from here) rubbertamps shop, and I'll get them tomorrow morning. [please insert a tiny scream of excitement please] Now that's what I call super fast ! (I didn't expect to be that fast !) Tomorrow will be just as busy, so I'll bid you farewell for today, girls ! Take care !

oxox

Sonia