How to Preserve Chives | Store, Freeze, Dry

To store fresh chives

1. The best way to store chives is to wash them. Don’t drain them. Immediately wrap them in a couple pieces of paper towel. If the paper towel isn’t damp, Sprinkle it with a little cold water. You don’t want the paper soaked. Just damp.
2. Roll paper towel around chives loosely.
3. Put the rolled up chives into a gallon plastic storage bag. It’s ok if you bend the chives a little to fit them into the bag. Just don’t snap them in half so that they bruise.
4. Place the bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. Store refrigerated for at least two weeks.

How to freeze chives

1. Wash chives. Chop them into uniform pieces with herb scissors or with a sharp chef’s knife.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread chive pieces onto sheet. Separate. Freeze for about an hour until they are frozen. Pour into a jar or freezer bag. Return to freezer.
3. It’s important to freeze the chives on the baking sheet before adding to the bag so that they will separate and you can use as much as your recipe calls for. If you don’t, they will freeze together in a big clump and will be hard to separate.

Freeze in water or oil

1. Wash chives. Chop them into uniform pieces with herb scissors or with a sharp chef’s knife.
2. Fill ice cube trays almost full with chopped chives. Slowly add water or oil to the trays. Don’t overfill them because you don’t want them to spill over when they freeze.

Air drying chives

1. Wash chives. Thoroughly dry them. It helps to let them air dry for an hour after drying with towel or paper towel.
2. Tie your bundle of chives together with kitchen twine. Tie a loop in the end so that you can hang them. ang in a cool, dry place with good air circulation for about three weeks until thoroughly dry.

Drying in the oven

1. Wash chives. Thoroughly dry them. It helps to let the air dry for an hour after drying with towel or paper towel. Chop them into uniform pieces with herb scissors or with a sharp chef’s knife.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread chopped chives in a uniform layer, leaving space between. Don’t crowd.Set oven temp to it’s lowest temperature. Usually 155-170°F.Place baking sheet in oven. Dry for one to two hours until they are fully dried. Check often to make sure they don’t brown. You’ll lose all of the delicious chive flavor.

Drying in food dehydrator

1. Wash chives. Thoroughly dry them. It helps to let the air dry for an hour after drying with towel or paper towel.Chop them into uniform pieces with herb scissors or with a sharp chef’s knife.
2. Spread the pieces evenly on parchment lined dehydrator tray. Try to leave room between them.Set food dehydrator to 90-95°F/ 35°C. Set timer for one hour.Place racks in dehydrator.