Garlic chives can go into just about anything … omelette, pancakes, fritters, soups … And what’s great about this versatile herb is that it keeps coming back so you have a constant supply. I’ve been enjoying my chives for many years now, nipping out to snip them whenever I felt like adding some to a dish.
So in my list of ‘Got-to-have herbs’, I had confidently ticked off this herb.
what I saw up in the highlands
Then on one of my trips to the highlands, I saw the broadleaf flowering Chinese chives which I was told yielded garlic chive buds popular in stir-fries. My eyes widened at the information, I had thought the chives I had produced these chive buds … no wonder mine were a poor shadow of those I find in the market.
I couldn’t ask my host for a plant as it was a recent acquisition, so I mentally added the herb to my wishlist.
Then quite recently, I saw it for sale at a floral fest. There were only two pots so I grabbed one and persuaded my aunt to get the other.
regular and broadleaf juxtaposed
The broadleaf chives which have settled in next to the regular chives, put their more common cousin in the shade.
It surpasses the regular chives in terms of size with leaves about 4 times wider, and its plump buds are definitely bigger too.
What about taste?
It’s said that the leaves can be used in the same way as regular garlic chives but I’ve yet to try them. But it’s about time I did. After all, the more I harvest them, the more they’re supposed to grow.
Hopefully that means I will not have to wait too long for a plate of stir-fried homegrown garlic chive buds.
Care and propagation: Full sun; regular garden soil; water normally. Propagate by division.
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