Garlic chives are not really a chive, but they do tasty mildly like garlic. That “mild” is good! You can have garlic chives for breakfast and not alienate friends and family.

A Pretty Plant

Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) make a graceful green statement in the landscape, are low water users, and bloom in September and October with a fireworks-like burst of white bloom on a tall stalk held above the grassy green leaves.

Garlic chives are another of the Columbian Interchange plants that we mentioned in our article on Lemongrass. Originally from the Mongolian steppes, garlic chives  have found their way around the world and grow virtually everywhere, including the Southwest where the plants tolerate our alkaline soils. Books say USDA Zones 10 to 4, but all the ones I have given to Zone 4 friends have not survived. We are going to try growing from seed next time.

In Mexican Food

I first knowingly ate garlic chives sprinkled on my soft tacos at a little roadside food stop in a little town in Michoacan. The woman serving us was so taken with my questions about the plant that she sent her son scurrying home to dig up some bulbs to give me.

Since I had plant collecting permits, they legally came back to the USA with me. These bulbs have been feeding me and surviving for decades since then. They have been planted, then dug up and transported to then survive another garden in another USDA zone, and even lived indoors in pots when I worked in some of those colder zones.

Grow Them

Just a quick note, a full guide to growing (soon) on Gardening With Soule. Plants grow readily from seed, in almost any soil. Since they easily grow they can also spread through the garden, appearing in watered areas. It is easily removed if it comes up where you don’t want it.

If you live in Pima County, you can get free seed through the library. The Pima County Seed Library lets you “check out” seeds with your library card and grow them at your home. All they ask that you donate some seed back if you can. I donated about a pound of garlic chive seed.

Garlic chives great addition to the garden, even if you never plan to eat any. But this site is about savoring flavors as well as the beauty of the world around us – so how to use garlic chives?

Use Garlic Chives

The part of garlic chives that you eat are the leaves, and also young flowers. Harvest anytime to add raw or cooked to any dish where you desire a mild garlic flavor. Basically, use garlic chive leaves how you would use scallions (green onions) or chives. In cold or hot dishes.

Dip. I often make garlic chive dip for parties. Mince a handful of leaves into sour cream. Mince not chop.

Substitute. Pico de gallo and salsa often use raw onion. If that’s too strong (and it can be for people with acid reflux), use some garlic chives instead.

Breakfast. We like them in omelets. A mild flavor for Sunday brunch.

Fritatta.  Come to think – this mild herb goes really well in any egg dish.  Like a tasty fritatta, or maybe the crustless quiche that we call “Dilemma Pie.”  How to make Dilemma Pie on our YouTube.

Salad. Add some green chive leaves or young white chive flowers to salad. They add a little zing.

Fish. Rather than overwhelm the delicate flavor of salmon with full on garlic, a few leaves of garlic chive can enhance the flavor of the fish.

Butter or Soft Cheese. Chop some garlic chive leaves and blend into butter or a soft cheese (like cream cheese). Roll into a “log” and chill for serving. 

Topping. Since it is hard to grow chives in the Southwest you can use garlic chives in place of them on your next baked potato.

Soup. Garlic chives are a wonderful topping on a simple soup. I like some on my “caldo de veduras.” Indeed, you may have had them before in a Chinese restaurant, where miso or egg drop soup is often garnished with some garlic chives. Bet it would be a nice garnish to thyme soup as well.

Almost a year after we posted this, we added another use for garlic chives – in a bright tasty Greek salad dressing. 

Want to know when we add new things?  May I suggest that you subscribe to our free newsletter on Substack.  The link is on the side bar, or way way way down below if you are reading this on a phone.  We send the newsletter once or twice a month to update you on new recipes we have added to our sites.

Something Else? Please share with us how you use your garlic chives!

Cats & Garlic Chives

While us humans can eat members of the onion family, cats can not. One bite of a leaf is not going to kill them, but the bulb of a garlic chive can. Or a clove of garlic. No garlic for cats!

Garlic, and most onion family plants, contain sulfur compounds that destroy your cat’s red blood cells. This causes anemia, technically “hemolytic anemia.” It’s a horrid disorder, and until the kidneys wash all the sulfur compounds out of the blood, red blood cells are destroyed faster than they are made.

Hardest of all, the symptoms so not show up right away. It can take as long as 4 days to 1 week after ingesting garlic for your cat to start showing signs of toxicity. Look for lack of muscle coordination, pale gums, vomiting, diarrhea, drooling or hypersalivation, and fatigue or lethargy. Yes cats rest a great deal, but when a 2 year old that used to bring you the toys to play with him just remains flopped down, you know something is wrong.

If you are lucky (and I was very lucky) your cat will survive the bout of hemolytic anemia that the garlic compounds give them. Within a few weeks they will slowly rebuild their red blood cells to carry oxygen in their blood once more. Honestly, it was more than luck. I fed him homemade bone broth every few hours. He was so weak he couldn’t lick it up, so I was using a syringe to feed him for a several days.

A Cautionary Tale

Some humans can not eat garlic compounds either. If you invite a friend over for some homemade lasagna, but they say, “I can’t eat garlic” please do respect their food issues. I am not saying you have to redesign your meal to take care of them. May I suggest you invite them next time you are planning a garlic-free meal.

Eat Local

If you are trying to eat only plants that local, or are in season, garlic chives are always in season!  I love it when the flowers are too!

Thanks for reading,

The Savorists 

Other, older, and less comprehensive versions of this article may be still out on the interweb.  I wrote about garlic chives once for a now defunct newspaper. Also there is a version excerpted from my Father Kino’s Herbs book that I wrote for the Savor Sisters in 2016.  Further history of Savor the Southwest and one reason why we call the writers on this site Savorists.

Father Kino’s Herbs

The last few copies of this out-of-print award winning Southwestern book are now for sale. Father Kino’s Herbs: Growing and Using Them Today   The review says:

“Award-winning garden writer Dr. Jacqueline A. Soule has pulled together a fascinating book on the life of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino and some of the plants that he brought to Southern Arizona and northwestern Sonora, and area called the Pimeria Alta.”

This link is to our book sales site. The profits from the sale go to the local Horticulture Therapy non-profit Tierra del Sol Institute.  We hope you will help support this great Southwest non-profit!

You can learn more at the Kino Heritage Society. (.org)

Legal Notes

© Article copyright Savor the Southwest // Jacqueline A. Soule. All rights reserved. You must ask permission to republish an entire blog post or article. Okay to use a short excerpt but you must give proper credit. You must include a link back to the original post on our site. No stealing photos.

Disclaimer

The authors of this website have researched the edibility of the materials we discuss, however, humans vary in their ability to tolerate different foods, drinks, and herbs. Individuals consuming flowers, plants, animals or derivatives mentioned in this blog do so entirely at their own risk. The authors on this site cannot be held responsible for any adverse reaction. In case of doubt please consult your medical practitioner.