July 10, 2009 - 10:07am
Growing good tasting chives
I made the potato-cheese-chive bread from BBA last year and I was amazed at how good it was. I was also amazed at how expensive chives are. I always thought chives and green onions were interchangable but the chives I bought for the bread were really something else. This year I planted plenty of chives in the garden and made the first loaf yesterday. It looks and tastes good but it's missing the big chive taste I remember from last year's loaves. Does anyone know anything about growing good tasting chives? Is it too early in the year? It never gets very hot in the part of the San Francisco Bay Area where I live--do they need a hotter climate to develop a strong flavor? Any ideas???
-greg
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I live in Santa Rosa and planted some chives about 5 years ago in a large bucket. They come back every year. I cut them off at the base a couple of weeks ago and they have already grown back and are ready for use.
--Pamela
Do you chop them completely off at the base so the plants don't have any "leaves" left or do you leave a few green parts still sticking up ?
Pretty much at the base. Once established, I think they are hard to get rid of.
--Pamela
http://www.indepthinfo.com/chives/cultivate.shtml.
Another site recommends fertilizing at planting with bone meal. This probably will contribute to stronger flavor.
David G
If you're going to handle bone meal, use a respirator and gloves as it was identified as a vector in BSE (mad cow disease). There are better organic sources than bone meal.
Phosphorus (P) aids in the development of plant roots. I don't think it will have much effect on taste.
The best scenario is to run a soil test to determine if you even need to fertilize your plants. If the plants can't use the nutrients, the nutrients will leach into the water table.
and compost, I have two varieties. Cut clives loose their aroma quickly. Cut and wash just before use. The Chinese flat leaf variety is bigger, holds flavor longer and is used for pickling and kimchee, I find it freezes better too.
The round common chive is also a small bulb and some say one should pluck the leaves and not cut. I cut mine about an inch over the bulb. If they threaten to bloom, I level the works and let them come back. There are always a few that manage to bloom and have seeds (and die when the seeds are ripe.) The "bushes" do well if their location changes every few years and clumps are divided. I keep several clumps near to the kitchen door in a sunny location. They are one of the first herbs from the garden in the spring. They usually come up big, fat and juicy after their winter rest.
Mini
This was really helpful. Thank you for all the advice. I plan on eating a lot of these this summer and having more and even better ones next year.
-greg