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Garlic Chives
Garlic Chives are a perennial herb with a very mild garlic flavour.
There will be about 3 to 8 blades per plant, with each blade being about 1/3 inch (3/4 cm) wide and up to 12 inches (30 cm) tall. The blades are flat rather than rounded ones, as those for other chives are, though there is one sub-variety (Flowering Chinese Chives) that has rounded.
Separate stalks to produce the flowers grow up to 30 inches (75cm) tall. The produce produces greenish-white self-fertile blossoms about 1 inch (2 1/2 cm) wide in the summer (whereas regular chives flower earlier, in the spring.) The plant doesn't die back in summer.
The plant can be propagated through seed or by dividing clumps of it. It will also self-seed.
The flowers are edible. They can be dried and ground to be used as a spice. The seeds produced by the flowers can be sprinkled on food.
The plant produces a small bulb underground that is edible, but it is tough. If harvesting for Garlic Chives for their bulbs, do so before the flowers open.
The plant is sometimes blanched while growing to produce white or yellow blades, which are softer.
When harvesting, cut leaves at ground level. Older leaves not as nice as young ones; they are coarser.
Storage
Store harvested blades in a plastic bag in the fridge and use up within 1 week.
Language Notes
When blanched, the Chinese call them "Gau Wong".
Also called:  Chinese Chives
Flat Chives
Nira Grass
See Also
Garlic Scapes, Yellow Chinese Chives
Other entries for Chives
Asatsuki, Flowering Chinese Chives, Garlic Chives, Gau Choy Sum, Herbed Vinegars, Yellow Chinese Chives
Other entries for Herbs
Angelica, Angostura Bark, Basil, Bay Leaf, Borage, Chamomile, Chervil, Comfrey, Coriander, Cress, Curry Leaves, Dill, Dried Herbs, Epazote, Fennel, Fenugreek, Filé, Folium Indicum, Greens, Hops, Hyssop, Lavender, Loroco, Lovage, Marjoram, Mexican Tarragon, Mint, Oregano, Parsley, Pennywort, Potherbs, Rosemary, Rue, Sage, Salad Burnet, Sarsaparilla, Sassafrass, Savoury, Screw Pine Leaves, Shiso Leaves, Silphium, Sorrel, Tarragon, Thyme, Trefoil, Valerian, Wild Garlic, Winter Purslane, Yarrow, Yomogi
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