Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 313 kcal | 89 kcal |
| Protein | 34.4 g | 9.8 g |
| Fat | 7.3 g | 2.1 g |
| saturated | 1.6 g | 0.4 g |
| Carbohydrate | 19.8 g | 5.6 g |
| sugars | 19.8 g | 5.6 g |
| Fibre | 26.1 g | 7.4 g |
| Sodium | 31 mg | 9 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
- 650 g chive leaves
Instructions
- Snip chives from the outside of the clump, taking whole blades down at the base rather than trimming the tops. A cut across the middle of a blade leaves a stub that browns and the plant sulks.
- Shake them rather than washing them if they came from your own garden and are clean. A chive blade is a hollow tube and water gets inside it, where nothing but time will get it out again.
- If they must be washed, stand them upright in a glass for ten minutes afterwards so the tubes drain.
- Cut them into 3.8 cm lengths with scissors, snipping rather than sawing with a knife. A knife crushes the tube and the juice runs out onto the board, taking the onion flavour with it.
- Spread them loosely over a mesh liner. They are light enough to be blown about, and a heap of chive dries into a green clump you then have to break up.
- Dry at 35 °C for 3 hours. The setting is unusually low and the run unusually short because a chive is a thin hollow leaf with very little in it — pushed hotter it goes from green to grey and loses the point.
- They are ready when a piece crushes to flakes between finger and thumb with no give whatsoever. Because the tube is hollow, a chive can feel dry outside while the inside is still damp, so press hard enough to flatten it.
- Keep them whole in a small jar well clear of the cooktop, and use them inside six months. Chive flavour is fragile, and this is one herb genuinely worth keeping in the freezer, where it holds its colour for a year.
