Ideas to use up a very large bunch of Chinese Chives (green)

+1 for pancakes!
I made these pancakes with the chives instead of onions, which are super simple- make them the size of regular pancakes so they’re easier to flip. You can use miso paste if you don’t have doenjang. It’s going to look like a tiny amount of batter and it will never hold together but magically it does work. I made a bunch to use a lot of the chives and leftovers the next day rewarmed well in a pan (I wouldn’t microwave or freeze).
You could top them with an egg and serve with some rice and kimchi for an easy meal
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/pajeon

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I love Chinese chive pockets! The recipe I’ve used is from Andrea Nguyen’s Asian Tofu, but here’s a different online recipe: https://www.chinasichuanfood.com/chive-pancake/

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I wasn’t able to try many of these ideas. The enormous bunch of what was labeled Chinese Chives became stinkier and stinkier with each passing day. They were in great shape, no slime, etc. But the smell was a very disagreeable super-amped bad garlic scent. I finally had to throw them out.

Is this typical? Is there a way to keep this from happening during storage?

I know this only TOO well. My in-laws used to come for extended (two months!!!) visits to our tiny apartment in San Francisco. They love chives, as chives are not readily available in their home town of Little Rock. Thus, they stock up and have chives EVERY SINGLE meal of EVERY SINGLE day of their stay.

As a compliant newlywed, I did not show any disrespect by voicing any negative feedback. After a time, the smell was killing me. Not only did my fridge reek, my kitchen reeked, our entire apartment smelled, my garage smelled horrid from the garbage cans. My bride also did not smell anything close to a fresh summer breeze either. :frowning: Glad to say, we are no longer newlyweds, and I am a bit more vocal (though still gracious) when it comes to my personal comfort in my personal space. Thanks for allowing my rant. :slight_smile:

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This immediately made me think of those threads about horrid food smells on airplanes!

The first few days there wasn’t much smell. I guess it increases over time?

Probably so. Or, my tolerance DECREASES over time. Most likely a combo of both.

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I know of no way to prevent it; I think the build of the aroma (yes, I call it aroma!) over the days in the fridge seems inevitable, unless you are diligent to put it in several layers of plastic bags or wrapping. I just warn people if they have to open my fridge and I have those chives in there.

My mom also grows chives, so she’ll randomly leave chives from her garden in my fridge and forget to tell me. Doesn’t stay “hidden” long.

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Very good to know!

Maybe a little late for the OP, but I would add that using them in Thai/Lao/Viet cooking could work well when fresh. In place of green onions (scallions) for Pad Thai or other stir fries, for example.

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I have a similar problem as the OP, except that not only do I have a very large bunch of Chinese chives, I discovered (don’t ask me why) that I have three very large bunches of Chinese chives in the fridge. And the smell is permeating into the kitchen.

While I am planning to make chive egg omelette, eating omelettes every meal for the next 5 days is a bit too much. Making dumplings is probably out of the question since wrapping dumpling takes a lot of time, and i probably need to make 400 to use the chives all up.

Questions:

can I freeze chives and use later?

any other ideas for the chives? can i grow them if they don’t have roots?

Chives should work in place of scallions in ginger scallion oil / condiment.

I cook them a bit when I’m expecting to store it for longer (and letting some of them char adds another note of flavor).

They keep for a long time this way in the back of my fridge (I keep the solids submerged in oil).

I keep jars of chopped chives in my freezer, and use for cooked preparations. I can’t swear to how their flavor compares, but they look fine.

Mine are regular chives, not chines.

Also, have you seen this thread about “spring onion greens”?

I know they are different alliums, but there might be some ideas there. I made “green seasoning” with a bunch of those.

Regarding subs, I don’t know the source, but I found this.

And this

With regard to growing them without roots, I couldn’t find anything specific to garlic chives, but I don’t see how it can hurt to try!

I couldn’t find anything specific to regrowing garlic chives, but they apparently spread by rhizomes so I don’t know if leaves would send out roots into water.

More about growing. And more.

The second link from “Growing In the Garden“ says

“Preserve garlic chives by freezing, freeze-drying, or dehydrating chopped fresh leaves; dried leaves should be stored away from light in airtight containers for up to one year.”