Garlic chives are a delightfully green plants that grow well across the Southwest, and indeed around the world. They are popular in Mexican cooking out in the little towns where there are no supermarkets, in part because you can harvest them all year long.  We did an earlier post on garlic chives, here is an expanded version.

Mountains of Mexico

I first knowingly ate garlic chives sprinkled on my soft tacos at a little roadside food stop in a forgotten town in Michoacan.    The woman serving us her tacos was so excited by my questions about the plant that she sent her young son scurrying home to dig up some bulbs to give me.    At the time I had plant collecting permits, so these bulbs came legally into the USA with me. I originally planted these three precious bulbs in pots and moved them as I moved. These tough plants have been surviving in various USDA growing zones and even indoors in pots for the next 30 plus years. Then they flowered and started spreading their seeds around my gardens. I am delighted!

From a gardening standpoint garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) make a graceful green statement in the landscape, are low water users, and bloom in the cooler months of autumn with a fireworks-like burst of white blooms held on a tall stalk above the grassy green leaves. Originally from the Mongolian steppes, plants tolerate our alkaline soils and thrive in zones 10 to 4.   Yes, they got spread around the globe as more of that Columbian Interchange.

Despite the name “tuberosum” you do not eat any underground tuberous part! The part you eat are the leaves.   And delightful they are.

How to Use Garlic Chives

Harvest your garlic chive leaves anytime of the year. You then add to raw or cooked dishes. They have a mild garlic flavor.  

Use garlic chive leaves how you would use scallions.    We like them in stir-fry, like our “Sauteed Greens del Estrella.” You can add them to omelets, or fritattas, or even to the “Dilemma Pie” on our YouTube channel.

Garlic chives can be found in Asian cooking – I recently saw some at an Oriental restaurant in their Miso Soup, a very light pre-dinner soup that is designed to help hydrate you, and said to aid digestion. Makes sense, they do have fiber in them. But speaking of soup, I imagine you could use them in the summer soup Caldo de Verduras.

No need to cook garlic chives. Chop some leaves to give zing to salad.  Or, you can add then to salad dressing, like our Greek Dressing.

I use them in roll-up “sandwiches,” that now go by the name of “wraps.”  I learned that they do not blend well with the flavor of oxalis, also called shamrocks though.

Healthy Garlic Chives

Garlic chives, standard chives (Allium schoenoprasum), and even scallions (Allium fistulosum) are all generally used in small amounts as garnishes to meals. Growing evidence points to promising health benefits of these members of the Allium genus. Allium also includes onions and leeks.

Prevent Cancer

Alliums, including chives and garlic chives, could help prevent or fight against cancer. The sulfur containing compounds in Allium can deter cancerous cells from growing or spreading throughout the body. These studies are preliminary, and small scale so far, but across the globe studies agree that chives and other alliums could help prevent cancer.

Prevent Osteoporosis

Garlic chives and standard chives are packed with both Vitamin A and Vitamin K. Vitamin K is shown to be a critical component in maintaining bone density. Western scientists are currently studying whether Vitamin K supplements are effective in treating osteoporosis, but Chinese medicine has been using garlic chives as an osteoporosis treatment for centuries. Currently, Vitamin K is recommended in childhood and early infancy to improve bone density throughout life, and they are recommending Vitamin A-containing foods, like chives, to help prevent osteoporosis from developing later in life.

Improve Memory

Alliums contain both choline and folate. Individually, each of these components is linked to improving memory functions. Studies show that adults who eat more foods with choline in them do better on cognitive tests, while people with low levels of choline seem to be at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

Meanwhile, folate, or folic acid, has been studied in connection with both cognitive disorders and mood disorders. The combination of choline and folate in alliums may help improve memory and prevent the development of conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Note that there are several small studies that show that getting these compounds (folic acid) from food sources is far better for the body than simply taking a supplement.  It is hard to get funding to do such studies because selling supplements is a mega-billion dollar industry world wide.

Moderation

You can eat too many garlic chives. Those same sulphur containing compounds (thiophenes) that appear to be useful against cancer cells are also anti-bacterial. That means if you eat too many, you can work against the good gut bacteria. All things in moderation.

Never For Cats!

Never ever ever let your cats eat garlic chives or garlic in any form. Indeed, be careful about letting them even get onions (Allium – remember?). All of these members of the Lily family can be lethal to cats. Those sulfur compounds called thiophenes shatter their red blood cells, and even block their ability to make more. The cat becomes anemic, their blood can’t carry oxygen, and they can die in a very short time.

Do Enjoy Some

Garlic chive plants grow readily from seed, and can spread through the garden, appearing in watered areas.    It is easily removed if it comes up where you don’t want it.   Pollinators will thank you.  I do enjoy watching pollinators on the garlic chives – on our YouTube.

If you are trying to eat only plants that are in season, these are always in season!    Garlic chives great addition to the garden, even if you never plan to eat any.  Not a gardener?  You can head to almost any Asian market and find bundles of garlic chives for sale.