Harvest chives
If you only want to use the tender, green stalks of the chives, you should harvest them before they bloom. Flower-bearing stalks become hard and very firm, they also lose their aroma and instead take on a bitter taste. For this reason, you should cut the chives stalks down regularly to prevent the plant from blooming. In this case, you can also harvest chives all year round. However, both the flowers and the buds of the chives are edible - give it a try!
also read
- Harvest chives properly
- Preserve chives
- Can you dry chives?
Prepare the chives
First of all, sort the cut stalks of chives: only use those that look crisp green and healthy, but you should sort out wilted stalks. Now wash the straws thoroughly under running water and then pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel. Then cut the stalks into ready-to-use rolls with sharp kitchen or herb scissors. Incidentally, freezing whole stalks is not recommended, because they can no longer be cut after thawing.
Freeze the chives
The prepared chives can now be frozen using several methods.
1. Fill the rolls in large quantities in a sealable can or in a freezer bag. The chives remain loose - provided they are not moist - even when frozen, so that you can easily remove the required quantities.
2. Instead, the chives can also be frozen in portions: Pour the required amount into the individual compartments of an ice cube container or similarly small containers. For better stability, you can fill up the herbs with water or a good vegetable oil (e.g. for a later salad dressing).
3. Depending on your personal taste, you can also put together a mixture of herbs (possibly even with chopped onions and / or garlic) and freeze it. This means that you have a ready-made mixture at hand when you are cooking, for example for sauces or soups.
4. Prepare a chive butter and freeze it in portions - wonderful with a juicy piece of steak from the pan or from the grill.
Frozen chives should be used up within six months if possible - after that they lose a lot of their taste. You can also freeze the aromatic flowers in the same way as described, only the buds should be inserted.
Tips & Tricks
Frozen chives should not be thawed before use, as this will cause the cell walls to burst and the rolls will eventually become mushy and poor in taste.
IJA
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