Ways to Use Chive Blossoms, Part of the Herb Garden Series
Three ways to use chive blossoms from your garden is the second part of the Herb Garden series. We talked about edible flowers during our last Zoom chat and a book club meeting. One of my favorite edible flowers are chive blossoms. So I thought I would share two ways to use chive blossoms. I use them plus how I freeze them for winter use. As my Grandmother would say, “This is how we put-it-up to use later.” ~ I like to remember how she said that.
Chives blooming in the herb garden
Chives blooming in the garden. They bloom in early summer. The flower blossoms are actually composed of multiple florets. They like sun to part shade but truly are adaptable to any sun or soil. Except deep shade and wet soil. They’re also perennial – plant them one and done.
It is best to cut the blossoms and leaves in the morning or evening. Wash the chives, blot dry then leave out to dry completely. Now let’s move on to the three ways to use chive blossoms.
One way to use chive blossoms – freezing them
Cut the flower heads apart into single florets to use for compound butter and freezing. Freezing chive leaves whole allows you to pull out of a resealable freezer bag and snip off what is needed for winter cooking. The snipped-off pieces defrost quickly. When freezing the florets place them on a lined cookie sheet and lay them out singularly. Put them in the freezer, the next day pull them out and place in a resealable freezer bag to use them out as desired.
Creating chive blossom compound butter
Another way to use chive blossoms is by creating compound butters. Gently mix salted butter with chive florets and a few snippets of the leaves. The picture is using one stick of butter. How much to add? To your taste, these add a gentle onion flavor to the butter. I use a handful of flowers so approximately 1/2 cup. You can allow this to “blend flavors” for a few hours to use now. It will be soft so put it in a bowl, I like a glass one so you can see all the pretty flowers.
Wrap it up in parchment paper to form a cylinder. Put the cylinder in a resealable freezer bag so you can pull it out and slice it as you wish. This is good on bread, grilled steak, fish/salmon or potatoes. Or if you wish to make some for the upcoming holidays and have a special butter dish. Line that dish with plastic wrap then add your butter and allow it to freeze overnight. Then pull out frozen butter, be gentle with your dish, and put butter in a freezer bag until needed.
Chive blossom vinegar
Put washed and dried chive flower heads in a glass container then fill just above blossoms with vinegar (white wine vinegar or unseasoned rice wine vinegar). Allow to steep for 1-3 weeks. The vinegar will take on a beautiful rosy color. Use this to make a delicate salad dressing or marinade.
Chive blossoms are beautiful edible flowers. I hope you try using them as you would use chives in your cooking. Just add them to cold dishes or at the end of cooking. If you are looking for more ways to use herbs and herb flowers I wrote another blog and checklist 12+ Culinary Herbs to Grow.
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