Cha-Cha-Chives

Back again on our medicinal plant journey! We hope you enjoyed your reading on Echinacea!

This week we are shifting our focus again to another medicinal plant that is more commonly known in the culinary world. This brings us to Chives!

Chives are often used as a fresh herb in culinary dishes and have a mild onion like taste. Aren't some of those culinary dishes just to die for?!

Interestingly enough, chives and onions fall into the same category as garlic in terms of the medicinal properties. (If you haven't already, check out our minced garlic recipe!) All of these plants stem from the Allium genus. Those edible plants in the Allium genus are packed with anti-inflammatory properties. The medicinal benefits almost make that onion and garlic breath worth it, right?

Chives are unique in that they grow blossoms unlike other cooking onions. The chive blossoms can be eaten as well. Like other types of onions, chives grow as bulbs, typically in the form of multiple bulbs that make the plant easy to divide.

Medical Research

When we posted our recipe for minced garlic, we mentioned that garlic has cancer preventing properties. It's not surprising that since chives come from the same genus that they also have similar cancer preventing properties.

This article from Cancer Prevention Research goes in depth to discuss the effects of garlic and onions in cancer prevention for stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, and prostate cancer.

Medicinal Uses of Chives

It may be obvious, but chives are typically taken internally through food, however, there are some interesting concoctions that can be made with chives and its' blossoms.

Infused Vinegar

We've showcased several infused oils among our medicinal blog posts, so it's only fair that we showcase some infused vinegar! Chive blossom vinegar is simple to make with only two ingredients - chive blossoms and a vinegar of your choice! Grow a Good Life has a great tutorial if you're interested in making your own infused vinegar. My mouth is watering just thinking about topping off a salad with that brilliant infusion!

Herb Butter

Even though this one is more on the culinary side, I just had to share! These cute little chive butter blossoms are not only pretty to look at, but make a nice addition to some yummy dinner rolls!

Infused Oil

Like some of our other medicinal plants, chives can be used to infuse oil. Both the blossoms and the stalks can be used to infuse oil. The process will be similar to the infused oil recipe that we featured in our dandelion post.

Resources

If you are looking for some additional resources on chives, I suggest checking into these two cookbooks.

Home Cooking With Fresh Chives: Delicious and Easy Recipes - this book is free if you have Kindle Unlimited. If you're a big reader, I highly suggest it! You can read more about Kindle Unlimited here.

Herbs and Spices - Chives - this book is also free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

Thanks for tuning in! Until next time...

Be Natural. Be Honest. Be Healthy.