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Allium tuberosum - Garlic chives
Allium tuberosum (garlic chives, Oriental garlic, Asian chives, Chinese chives, Chinese leek)[1] is a species of onion native to southwestern parts of the Chinese province of Shanxi, and cultivated and naturalized elsewhere in Asia and around the world.,[2]
Contents
Description
Allium tuberosum is a perennial plant[7] growing from a small, elongated bulb (about 10 mm, 13⁄32 inch, across), tough and fibrous, originating from a stout rhizome.[3] It has a distinctive growth habit with strap-shaped leaves 1.5 to 8 mm (1⁄16 to 5⁄16 in) wide[9] unlike either onion or garlic. It produces many white flowers in a round cluster (umbel) on stalks 25 to 60 cm (10 to 24 in) tall.[5] It grows in slowly expanding perennial clumps, but also readily sprouts from seed. In warmer areas (USDA zone 8 and warmer), garlic chives may remain green all year round. In cold areas (USDA zones 7 to 4b), leaves and stalks completely die back to the ground, and resprout from roots or rhizomes in the spring.[10]
The flavor is more like garlic than chives.
Uses
- Garlic chives have been widely cultivated for centuries in East Asia for its culinary value. The flat leaves, the stalks, and immature, unopened flower buds are used as flavouring.
- A. tuberosum is used for both garlic and sweet flavours, in soups and salads, and traditional Japanese and Chinese dishes.
- the leaves of garlic chives (hẹ) are cut up into short pieces and used as the only vegetable in a broth with sliced pork kidneys.
