Beautiful pink color after only one night of the chive blossoms infusing the vinegar.

I am ecstatic over the abundance of chives my garden has produced this year!  I can’t really take credit, as the chives keep dropping their seeds and doubling the size.  If you plant chives and have a small space, it’s best to cut the blossoms off after their beautiful summer flower show has passed.  My chive garden literally doubled from last year.

Here in Halifax, chives blossoms bloom late may to mid June.  You can start using the chives as soon as they come up from the ground.  The stems, and even the unopened flowering bulb can be chopped and used in dishes.  Chives can lift the flavour of many dishes.  Once they are up from the ground in spring, I am constantly grabbing a handful of these sleek green stems for potato dishes, gravies, salads, soups, savoury waffles and pancakes, sandwiches, and sauces.

I also use chives in recipes where I want a mild onion flavour.  When my children were young and didn’t think they liked onions, I would use chives in place of onions in things like burgers, where the onion may not completely soften before the burger is finished on the grill.    Chives, a perennial herb that is part of the Allium species which includes green onions, and garlic .  Allium are said to have health-giving properties.  The stronger their smell the more effective the suggested healing powers are.  Chives are mainly grown for the scape (stems) however, they are important in gardens as they help repel unwanted insects and their flowers attract bees.  I am sure I don’t need to tell you how important our bees are.I just loved watching this little guy working away in the early morning sun.   What a life collecting nectar to take back to his hive to turn into honey.

I love chive blossom vinegar not only for its beautiful pink hue, but for the light onion flavor it infuses.  Lately, I am making all of my vinaigrette for salads, oil free.  Infused vinegar is wonderful for implementing lots of flavour into a dish, and this one doesn’t disappoint.  I have added one of my favourite oil-free vinaigrettes at the bottom of  this post.  I listed raspberries in the ingredients, but you definitely need to make it again with oranges, blueberries, blackberries, or strawberries are amazing in this recipe as well.

Chive Blossom vinegar is so easy to make, it’s hard to call this a recipe.  It’s requires 2 ingredients, chive blossoms, and vinegar.  If you want to impart a stronger chive flavour, you can add chive stems to the jars as well,  however I like to finely chop the stems and freeze to have a supply year round.

If your chive blossoms have already gone to seed (dried out and no longer pink) you can still make chive vinegar.  You will need to use the stems in place of the blossoms.  You will not make a pink hued vinegar, however, it will be equally wonderful in taste and aroma.

To make the chive blossom vinegar, you will need a glass jar, or container, water for cleaning the chives, and although optional, I have found that a salad spinner really makes the process go faster.  If you don’t have a salad spinner, you don’t need to go buy one.  All you will need to do is let your chives slightly dry on paper towel or a clean tea towel before adding to the container.  Once the vinegar has been infused for a couple of weeks all the color will be drained from the blossoms.  You will now need to strain the vinegar through a fine sieve, or cheesecloth.

The chives will look a little beat up after the “spin cycle”.  That’s normal

If you have a wide mouth funnel, it does make filling lots of jars easier.  I am making large batches for gifts.  

You can see a pink hue when held up to the sun in just a few hours. Take this to the summer bbq your are invited to as a hostess gift

Try splashing a bit of this vinegar over homemade french fries, and a pinch of sea salt.. Serious, yum!

Pour this vinaigrette over a bed of greens, topped with red onions, nuts, sliced fruit, mushrooms, and a few croutons.  Talk about burst in your mouth flavour and oh so good for you!  I have even added chilled pasta to this salad.  Double yum!

Of course add any veggie and fruit you prefer and change this dressing up.