Foraging Wild Chive

I've known about wild chive since I was a kid, but I didn't know what it was called or that it was edible. It always grew taller than the rest of the grass, and it always smelled like onions when I picked it.

Once I got into foraging, though, I learned that the plants I picked as a kid were wild chive, an edible plant very similar to the commercial variety. Wild chive is a bit thinner, but the flavor is amazing. The entire plant is edible, so you can chop up the tops and cook the bulbs as well.

Now that grocery stores are a bit hectic and the availability of fresh produce isn't guaranteed, I've started regularly using wild chive in our meals. Not only does this save money and prevent exposure, wild chive is DELICIOUS. I don't think I'll ever buy chives from a grocery store again!

Before it went out of season, I wanted to make sure to dry enough to jar up for the rest of the year; anything else in my yard will either be left to seed or will be used fresh as needed. In this post, I'll show you how to harvest chive, use it fresh, and dehydrate it for future use.

Harvesting Chive

Wild chive will start popping up early in the spring with tops that are round, hollow, and darker in color than the grass around it.

Wild chive in Mid-March, still very thin

Chive in early April, almost as thick as its commercial counterpart

There aren't many lookalikes to chive, but the easiest way to know that you've found chive is picking the tops and taking a whiff; chive tops will smell like onions. If it doesn't smell like onions, you don't have chives. 

As they grow over the season, the tops will look more and more like what you'd buy in stores:

Close up of chive in early April

You can use regular scissors to cut off the tops, and pulling up the bulbs takes little effort.

My main goal was to gather tops to dehydrate for later use, but I pulled up a few of the larger bulbs to use in dinner.

Not a bad haul considering I didn't leave my yard!

Using Chives

Once I got back in the house, I cleaned the tops and bulbs. I also cut out/removed any tops that were wilted, brown, or dried out. All of those scraps went into my compost; nothing wasted!

All clean!

Many of the tops were too long to fit into my dehydrator, so I chopped them in half. I had enough tops for four tiers, making sure to leave enough space for them to dry evenly.

If you don't have a dehydrator, you can still preserve them! This link from DehydratorLab will show you other drying methods. You can also chop them and freeze them with water or olive oil in ice cube trays, make chive butter, or vacuum-seal the tops and freeze them. You can learn more about other preservation methods for chives from The Kitchn.

Stacked in the dehydrator

Oh noes...the chives are in the evil clutches of....DEHYDRO!

Once that was done, it was time to cook dinner. I sliced up all of the bulbs as well as any tops that didn't make it into the dehydrator.

Tops and bulbs...Deadpool approved!

From there, I added the bulbs and tops into a pan of butter and potatoes and fried it all up together, adding a little salt and garlic powder. We've also used them with pierogies and in mashed potatoes.

So. Delicious.

Meanwhile, back in DEHYDRO headquarters...

I let the tops dehydrate overnight. You can tell when the tops are ready when they easily snap apart. If they bend at all, they aren't done yet.

One of the dried tops

Pile of dried chives

They're too delicate to chop on a board when they're dried out; I tried once in my first batch, and they flew everywhere. To stop them from flying all over, I placed them on a paper towel, put another paper towel on top, and lightly crushed them until they were in pieces small enough to put them in my little food processor (I got it for around $5 at Walmart several year ago, and it was worth every penny).

Chives after being crushed up

Get in the choppah!!

I ran the processor until the chives were chopped up. Use them like you would commercial dried chives. I ended up filling most of an 8oz mason jar, which was my goal. From here, the jar goes into the spice cabinet and will be used like commercially dried chives.

Ready for the spice cabinet!

Here's a recipe I've used the dried chives in recently, and it worked out very well (especially on salmon and fried potatoes):

Want to learn even more about wild chive? Check out Penn Live and Eat the Weeds for more info!

**Please make sure you are 100% certain that you have accurately identified a plant before consuming it in any way. Do not forage plants in areas that have been sprayed with chemicals.**

When fiction becomes reality

Boy have things gotten weird.

My uncle told me a few weeks ago that the live action version of my book isn't nearly as fun, and I had to chuckle. Someone once gave me a negative review for Braving the Storm because they said people wouldn't panic as quickly as I depicted. I will gladly accept their apology.

ANYWHO...

I hadn't planned on gardening this year. I didn't have the opportunity to garden last year, so nature has completely taken over my garden space. Now that things are how they are, though, I figured growing my own food is a safe bet, just in case. Finding produce in stores is still a crap shoot, and then you have to worry about contamination. I'd rather just skip it altogether. Hopefully this will help me do so; I've had pretty good luck in the past, so I'm hoping I can get back to these results again:

As you can probably tell from my expression, I REALLY want to make a joke about this.

These too :)

We borrowed a friend's tiller to get the garden back up and running, which we'll be doing soon. In the meantime, though, I wanted to get seeds started. I was fortunate enough to find a few bags of potting soil and the seeds I still needed from my local Rite Aid, but they didn't have any seed starters. I was thankful to find one tray of pots in my basement (along with older seeds which I would've used if I wasn't able to get my hands on fresh ones), but those trays were only enough to cover the tomatoes I want to plant. I plan on starting my Three Sisters Garden in a few weeks, so I'll need a lot more than 7 pots.

I ended up seeing a picture online on how to use TP rolls to make seeds starters, so I figured I'd give it a shot. It's super easy, and they're biodegradable so you can plant them directly in the ground when they're ready!

1) Gather your TP rolls and get a pair of scissors.

Step 1: TP Rolls and Scissors

2) Cut your TP Rolls in half.

Step 2: Cut them in half

3) Cut clits 1/3rd of the way up on 4 sides and fold them like a box

Tip: If you fold them into a square, it'll be easier to judge where to cut.

4) Fill them with soil, add your seeds, and place them in a waterproof container to collect excess water.

Tip: if you're using them for more than one type of seed, write on the roll so you know which is which.

Another type of seed starter you can use in a pinch are K-Cups. Obviously you won't be able to plant them directly in the ground, but the hole in the bottom makes it ready for filling with soil and adding your seeds.

Also easy steps:

1) Remove and discard the foil on top. Scoop out the coffee, remove the basket, and set aside.

K-Cup ready for planting!

2) Fill your K-Cups with soil, add your seeds, then place them in a waterproof container to catch excess water.

Like the TP roll, you can also write what you're growing on the K-Cup to keep everything situated.

 3) Put the coffee and filters in your compost pile!

Old coffee ready for the compost

I currently have all of my seeds together, soaking up sun in the window. My tomatoes have already started coming up, so I'm super excited.

Hopefully these starters will be much greener in a few weeks!

There are lots of resources on when to get seeds started, depending on where you live. Since I'm in Zone 6 (near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), I would suggest going here (all of Zone 6) and here (PA specifically) for more information on what you can grow and when in Zone 6.

If you would like to see 20 DIY ways to make seed starters (including the ones above), you can go here.

For more information on starting seeds indoors, go here.

Good luck out there, everyone! I hope you and your families all stay safe and healthy during this difficult time.