Chives

Description

Chives are repulsive to most insects due to their sulfur compounds, but their flowers attract bees, and they are at times kept to increase desired insect life, The plant provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. Chives have been cultivated in Europe since the Middle Ages (from the fifth until the 15th centuries), although their usage dates back 5,000 years. Chives are cultivated both for their culinary uses and for their ornamental value; the violet flowers are often used in ornamental dry bouquets. Chives are grown for their scapes and leaves, which are used for culinary purposes as a flavoring herb, and provide a somewhat milder onion-like flavor, the flowers are used in salads.  Romani have used chives in fortune telling. Bunches of dried chives hung around a house were believed to ward off disease and evil.

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