Using chives in cooking

Chives leaves have a fairly strong onion flavour and are used in a variety of dishes commonly with eggs and potatoes

They are great in salads, soups and stews but if they are to be used in cooked dishes they should be introduced at the last moment to best preserve their flavour.

Chives are easy to grow, have a long season and are better used fresh than dried. They can, however, be successfully frozen and stored for your use in your freezer over winter.

For freezing, the leaves should be snipped off about 2” above ground and the remaining part closest to the ground snipped into small lengths and frozen in single layers. Don't wash them – you do that just before using them in the recipe, but it might be an idea to discard the really grotty bits.

Always be gentle washing any herb; you can lose a lot of the flavour if you get carried away! Frankly I don't wash them at all -don't tell my dinner guests – but then my garden never has any nasties sprayed on.

They may then be may be stored in small containers in the freezer. They can be added to the recipe without thawing

The flowers are really pretty and can be tossed on top of salads.