Micro chives
Allium schoenoprasum · Herb
Top 10 pairings
Micro chives are chives (Allium schoenoprasum) harvested at the seedling stage — fine, hair-thin young shoots cut roughly one to three weeks after sowing, once the slender first leaf has stood up above the soil. Despite their delicate, grass-like appearance they carry an intense, concentrated onion-and-garlic flavour, far punchier per gram than the mature herb, and are used raw as a finishing garnish on eggs, soups, seafood, soft cheeses and salads.
Picking a good onedrag
Stiff, deep green, just cutYellow, limp, sour at the base
Shop freshEveryday bestThe all-rounder: garnish, dips, compound butter.
ColourGreen, the very tips paling
Bend a stalkBends and slowly comes back
Cut endsCut ends dried and sealed pale
Smell at a snapped tubeOnion comes once rubbed between fingers
These cues are Chives's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
Keeping ittap a temperature
A domestic fridge holds it about 8× longer than the counter.
95–100%
Humidity
Perforated bag, not sealed
Airflow