Chinese chives

Chinese (garlic) chives, flat dark-green leaves with a pungent garlicky bite, sold in bundles. Cut into lengths and added in the last minute or two of a rolling soup (classically with pig's blood curd) they keep their aroma and a slight chew.

TCM properties

Nature · warming　Flavour · pungent　Meridians · liver、kidney、stomach

Traditional food therapy

In Cantonese food therapy chives are the warming 'yang-raising herb' of folk tradition, taken to warm the middle, open the appetite and move qi and blood.

Cautions: read first

• Those with yin deficiency and flaring fire, or with heavy heat, should eat only a little
• Tradition counts it a 發物, a food said to trigger flare-ups, so take care if you have sores or eye trouble
• High in coarse fibre, so keep it moderate if your digestion is weak
• Folk wisdom says eating a lot of it while breastfeeding may dry the milk up (a traditional saying)

Preparation

Wash and cut into lengths, adding them in the last 1 to 2 minutes of a quick-boiled soup (滾湯).

Origin

Grown throughout China. Bundles (and dearer yellow chives) at Australian Asian grocers are locally grown

Availability in Australia

Easy to find

Pairs well with