Chive ( Allium tuberosum ) is a rhizomatous, clump-forming perennial plant growing from a small, elongated bulb that is tough and fibrous. Unlike either onion or garlic, it has strap-shaped leaves with triangular bases, about 1.5 to 8 mm wide. It produces many white flowers in a round cluster (umbel) on stalks. It grows in slowly expanding perennial clumps, but also readily sprouts from seed. In warmer areas, chives may remain green all year round. In cold areas, leaves and stalks completely die back to the ground, and resprout from roots or rhizomes in the spring. The flavor is more like garlic.
Chive habitats
Chive originated in the Siberian–Mongolian–North Chinese steppes,[11] but is widely cultivated and naturalised. It has been reported as growing wild in scattered locations in the United States (Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, Alabama, Iowa, Arkansas, and Wisconsin. However, it is believed to be more widespread in North America, because of the availability of seeds and seedlings of this species as an exotic herb and because of its high aggressiveness. This species is also widespread across much of mainland Europe and invasive in other areas of the world. A late summer- to autumn-blooming plant. Chive is one of several Allium species known as wild onion and/or wild garlic that, in various parts of the world, such as Australia, are listed as noxious weeds or as invasive “serious high impact environmental and/or agricultural weeds that spread rapidly and often create monocultures”. A number of varieties have been developed for either improved leaf (e.g. ‘Shiva’) or flower stem (e.g. ‘Nien Hua’) production. While the emphasis in Asia has been primarily culinary, in North America, the interest has been more as an ornamental plant.
Chive in Bangladesh
Scientists of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) are hoping that chives can be used as an alternative to garlic and onion. They released a high yielding variety of this crop named Chive-1. A senior scientist of the Spices Research Centre at BARI said: “After a lot of extensive research, we finally succeeded in developing a sustainable variant of this Chinese, Siberian, and Mongolian spice [chives].”
“This spice can replace onion or garlic in times of need as it has a similar taste profile,” he added.
Cultivation of chive-1.
What makes chive-1 the ideal crop is that it can be grown all year round. Once planted, the crops can be collected multiple times from a single plant and can be grown easily in flower pots or backyards where they can grow to 30-40cm in length. The Lillian shaped leaves are about 23-30cm with flat, smooth edges and the bulbs can grow up to 1.5cm.The first crop can be harvested after 65-70 days of planting and can be collected 4-5 times a year. 10-12 tons of crops can be produced per hectare.
Currently chives are cultivated in the hilly areas of Sylhet and Chittagong. Scientists find great potential in its cultivation in the onion producing areas of the country like Faridpur, Pabna, Rajbari, Meherpur, Kushtia, Magura, Bogra, and Lalmanirhat.
Benefits of chives.
The benefit of chives is that the whole plant, leaves, stalk and green flower, can be used as a spice. It is cheaper than onion and garlic in markets and easy to produce. It even has health benefits like helping digestion and disease prevention. It also prevents different types of cancer. It is rich in Vitamin C, Vitamin B-1, Vitamin B-2, Niacin, Carotene, and other minerals.
Uses of chives
Chives are an ideal spice to replace onion and garlic in cooking, and it is even healthier. The shortage of onions and garlic will be mitigated if chives can be widely cultivated in Bangladesh. Now, import dependence can be reduced if chives are used as an alternative. To combat onion shortage in the country, agricultural scientists of the country have taken steps to expand the cultivation of Chives-1 through both government and non-government organizations (NGOs). Chives are used in Vietnam, Nepal, Korea, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Japan, India, China as cooking ingredient and for flavoring of many kind of salads and Street dishes. Bangladesh should start encouraging farmers on growing chives in large amount and popularize this in market.
