Can you eat chive flower buds

I grow lots of chives in my organic garden, and I know from experience that the flowers can house the tiniest bugs imaginable. To flush them out, just plunge the flowers into water several time and swish them around. Repeat a few times and pat dry.

Separate the flowers into florets. Using your fingers, gently pull the florets away from the center of the flower head. Some florets may come away attached to a tiny stem of their own, but that just makes them more adorable. Scrambled Eggs Garnished with Chive Flowers. Sprinkle them over egg recipes and savory crepes to give them a pop of color and texture.

Gently mash them into softened butter or cream cheese. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight to let the flavors meld. If you're making a potato salad flavored with chive leaves, crumble a few flower heads in there as well. These blossoms have a delicate flavor of onion and garlic and can be used as both an attractive garnish as well as a tasty ingredient in a variety of recipes. In the late spring or early summer, chive blossoms appear at the top of the blade-like stems of the chive plant.

The light purple colored puff-like flower is somewhat star-shaped, and consists of several florets joined together at the flower's head. Each blossom measures approximately two inches in diameter. The blossoms smell mildly of garlic with a hint of floral and taste similar to chives. Chive blossoms have a delicate onion-garlic taste, just a whisper of the strong flavor found in the chives themselves, along with some earthy undertones.

The mild flavor means they can be added to a dish and not overwhelm the other ingredients. The blossoms are sold attached to the chives, so they need to be removed from the chive stems, which can easily be done with kitchen shears or scissors.

Before using the chive blossoms, rinse them well in water to remove any insects; plunging in cold water a few times is a good way to assure the blossoms are bug-free. The blossoms should be dried gently with a paper towel or allowed to air-dry before using.

The flowers can either be kept whole or separated into florets. How do I use fresh chives? Since chives have a milder flavor, they're perfect to add to soups, dips, mashed or baked potatoes, fish, seafood dishes and omelets. Heat destroys their delicate flavor, so add chives to dishes at the last minute. To maximize their taste, thinly slice, chop or snip with kitchen shears before using. How long does it take for chives to grow? Sow chives in the garden or set out divisions as early as 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost in spring.

What part of chives do you use? The primary edible part of the chives, though, are the long stalks, which are great snipped into salads and other dishes.

They shouldn't be cooked; they're too delicate for that. How do you get seeds from chives? To collect chive seeds, gently shake the flower heads over a container.

You could also clip the flower heads off the plant and drop them into a paper bag. Then fold over the top of the bag and shake it to release the chive seeds from the flower heads. What are the benefits of chives? Share on Pinterest Eating chives may help improve a person's sleep and bone health. Unsurprisingly, the flowers of the chive plant taste like chives, as you would be used to, but the flavour is a little milder than you would expect to taste in the leaf. Perfect for adding just a touch of flavour to your food.

The taste is the same whether you choose to chop up and use the buds or the flowers in full bloom. If you can get hold of chive flowers, then there are plenty of ways to use them in your cooking.

Why not try some of these? Pluck some flowers fresh from the plant and divide out the tiny blooms. Rinse them under some cold water and allow them to drain. Now make yourself a delicious omelette such as a mushroom and pepper omelette. Once it has cooked, sprinkle some chive blooms over the dish to add flavour and a pop of beautiful colour to your meal.

You could also do this with scrambled egg too. Wash some chive flowers and then separate out the blooms.