How to Freeze Chives?

Chives are a herb with long hollow stems and give a beautiful purple flower during flowering. Chives are a herb that can be used in many dishes. It can be found in every kitchen in dried form or fresh in a pot. It’s a shame to throw away too much chives, you can dry or freeze it
Freeze chives
You can dry and store a lot of fresh herbs. You can read how to do this in our blog about drying and storing fresh herbs. You can read how to dry chives later in this blog. But first freeze chives.
How to freeze chives?
If you have a lot of fresh chives, you can freeze them. This goes very well with fresh chives. You just have to go through a few steps and it’s done in no time. It is certainly nice if the fresh chives come from your own (vegetable) garden. Freezing chives retains much of the flavor. What should you do?
- Cut the fresh chives off the plant 3 inches above the ground.
- Wash the bunch of chives under the tap and pat it dry with a clean tea towel or kitchen paper.
- Then cut off an inch from the tops as well.
Now there are two options, you can blanch them briefly or freeze them without blanching. Blanching kills any bacteria present, but the crispiness decreases somewhat. Place the chives in boiling water for 30 seconds and rinse them immediately under the cold tap. Then dry again in the tea towel. That in what we call blanching.
Whichever method you have chosen, with or without blanching, the rest is the same.
- Cut the chives into equal pieces.
- Place them per portion in a freezer bag or container that can be closed.
- Then place it in the freezer.
You can now keep the chives for at least 12 months. If you want to use the chives in your dish, you don’t let it thaw but it goes straight from the freezer into the pan.
Chives Drying
Another way to store chives is to dry them. You can dry chives very well, you can store it in a spice jar and immediately add it to your dishes to season. Some of the flavor is lost when drying, so you will have to use more chives for seasoning.
There are different ways of drying which are discussed below, but the first steps are all the same, namely..
- Cut the chives 3 inches off the ground.
- Remove the brown or yellow stems.
- Clean the chives under the tap.
- Pat the chives dry with a tea towel or kitchen paper.
- Cut or cut the chives into equal pieces.
As mentioned, chives can be dried in several ways. The first way is…
Air Drying Chives
The first and simplest method is air drying. Place the chopped chives on a tray and place it in a quiet place in your house. Now the chives will dry. The speed of drying depends on the humidity in your home, so check the situation every day.
When air-dried, several chives can turn brown, which is not a pretty sight. If you don’t want this, you can use the following method.
Drying chives in the oven
Place the chopped chives on baking paper or the baking tray and place in a preheated oven at 40 degrees. Place the baking sheet in the oven and within 2 to 3 hours they will be dry, with no brown bits. Then let them cool down and put them in your spice jar.
Chives Drying Dehydrator
If you want to do it more often, also with other herbs, you can consider purchasing a dehydrator. This food dryer is specially made for this and ensures that you can dry your herbs and other foods in a constant and controlled way.