A snip of spring

Easy-to-grow, mild chives blossom with fresh possibilities

This is the time of year to look up from your baked potato and cast your gaze outside. You're likely to see a brigade of chives already greening up the garden.

And if you don't have some flourishing right by the kitchen door, your neighbor probably does.

This smallest member of the onion family is one of the most common herbs in the garden. And it's one of the most useful in the kitchen.

"Just about everybody has them - even people who are not herb gardeners," said Joan Janssen of the Herb Society of America-Wisconsin unit.

They are one of the first edibles to come up, offering "a nice crisp springy taste," and then just a few weeks later, "there are the pink blossoms," which Janssen likes to use flavor vinegar.

An alternative to familiar onion-flavored chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are white-flowered garlic chives (Allium tuberosum), also known as Chinese chives.

Look for them in Asian grocery stores or at the farmers market. Or plant a patch of this flat-leafed herb at home.

"I love garlic chives, "she said. "They bloom later in the year, in August," compared with the standard plant that usually blooms in June.

No matter the type, Janssen recommends scissors for harvesting the blades in neat bundles with crisp, even ends. That way, "you can just bring in a handful and rinse it."

For executive chef Keith Luce of the Herbfarm Restaurant in Woodinville, Wash., "Chives offer a great relief after a long winter. They offer a little taste of things to come."

And because this is "a very delicate herb - not just the color, but the flavor - it's best to add it at the last minute."

The potent blossoms are another matter.

Luce infuses poaching liquid, which might be used to cook white fish or chicken, with the unopened blossoms for a few minutes.

"It adds wonderful flavor," he said.

He then garnishes the dish with chopped chives mixed with chive blossoms that have been separated into individual petals.

This chef calls for "using nice sharp utensils" when chopping, noting that scissors work well, not just for harvesting, but also for snipping the reedy blades in the kitchen.

"People are always seeing chefs on the Food Network chopping like crazy, but with herbs - especially with alliums - you just want to go once across," to avoid bruising the leaves.

Another chive cheerleader is Theresa Mieseler, who with her husband owns Shady Acres Herb Farm in Chaska, Minn. (www.shadyacres.com), where they sell close to 300 different herbs.

She describes chives as a "subtle herb, a mild herb - so you can use a lot of it compared with, say, sage."

In her kitchen, chives are part of the herb medley she uses to make salad dressing, and they also are stirred into Dijon-style mustard.

"The chive mustard adds nice flavor to sandwiches," she said.

When it comes to preserving the bounty, Mieseler recommends freezing the snipped herb in small zipper-lock bags.

Then just break some off, as needed, to use in cooked food.

"I'm not a fan of dried chives," she said. "They loose their flavor."

Left to grow unattended, these determined little onions are apt to reseed themselves in the garden, so she encourages people to cut them back before the flowers mature and the seeds fall to the ground.

"You don't want a chive lawn," she warned.