Are you one of those people who cut down your chives in time before they bloom? This certainly makes sense, as the flower-bearing stalks can no longer be used as a spice - they are far too hard and tasteless. However, you should leave some flowers standing because you can eat them too.
Are chive flowers poisonous or edible?
Chive flowers are not poisonous, but edible and tasty. They can be used raw in salads and desserts as well as in cooked dishes. Contrary to myth, they enrich various dishes with their spicy and sweet-sweet taste.
Chive flowers for salad and sauces
The rumor that chive flowers are poisonous persists in many places. The opposite is the case, because the mostly purple flowers taste very distinctive - both spicy like chives and, thanks to the high nectar content, sweet and sweet - and when raw, they round off both colorful salads and desserts wonderfully. The flowers can also be used for cooking (e.g. for Frankfurt green sauce) or replace the chive rolls on buttered bread or in quark. However, you should actually no longer use the flower-bearing stalks because they are not only hard, but also very bitter and therefore inedible.
Harvesting chive flowers
It is best to harvest the chive flowers very early in the morning, as this is when the essential oil content is highest and the buzzing insect content is lowest. Due to their high nectar content, flowering chives are very popular with bees, beetles, etc. For this reason, you must shake the flower tubes vigorously before use and check for any beetles - the animals like to hide inside the delicate flowers. Only use intact, he althy and clean flowers as they should not be washed.
Tips & Tricks
Just like the flowers, you can also use the buds that are still tightly closed. These are pickled and used like capers - after all, real capers are nothing more than flower buds, which, however, come from the real caper bush (Capparis spinosa), which is native to the Mediterranean region.
