Freeze Dry Chives
Although it resembles grass, chives are the smallest plant in the onion family. They impart a rich flavor similar to onions or garlic, but with an extra fresh flavor because they are often taken directly from a fresh plant and sprinkled over food. If you have an abundance of chives during warm weather and you want to preserve it in the winter, the best way to do this is to freeze the chives, rather than dry them with a dehydrator. For best results, use the freshest chives possible with this method. Learn how to freeze dry chives.
Steps
- Snip your fresh chives. Cut near the base of the chive plant to encourage new growth.
- Wash your chives thoroughly. Rinse them with cold water.
- Trim off any root or unhealthy part of the chives.
- Place the chives on a towel to dry. You can also use paper towels. You will want to ensure they are completely dry before freezing so that the water doesn't freeze and ruin the taste.
- Allow them to sit on the towel and air dry. Patting them can crush them, in which case you will lose some of the original flavor.
- Chop the chives with a sharp knife. It is a good idea to chop them to the size you usually use in cooking. You will be able to take the chopped chives directly from the refrigerator and use them in your recipes.
- Place all of the chopped chives in a heavy duty freezer bag. Try to smooth them into 1 horizontal layer for easy handling. Compress the bag before sealing to extract all of the air.
- Place the bag inside the freezer, taking care to set them atop something horizontal, so that they freeze in a layer. Leave them there overnight.
- Remove the bag from the freezer and repackage the chives into servings for easy use. For example, you can take very small lunch bags and freeze a portion. Then, you can remove a lunch bag each time your recipe calls for fresh chives.
- Chives thaw quickly, so take care to repackage them within a few minutes of removing them from the freezer.
- This step is not necessary if you want to keep all the chives in the same bag. Opening and closing the bags will insert oxygen into the bag, so they may not taste as fresh.
- Take the chives from the freezer and place them directly in your food. There is no need to thaw the chives, as they will do so quickly.
- Measure the chives according to fresh herb measurements, rather than dry herb measurements.
- Finished.
Things You'll Need
- Shears
- Cold water
- Paper towels/towels
- Freezer bags
- Knife
- Smaller freezer bags
