16 May: Chives

16 May was the Day of Chives in the French Revolutionary Calendar. Here are 10 things you might not know about chives.

1. They are part of the onion family and the scientific name for the plant is Allium schoenoprasum. As well as Onions, their close relatives include Leeks, Garlic and scallions.
2. People were growing chives in China as long ago as 3,000 BC.
3. The thin stems are the part of the plant most commonly eaten, but the flowers are edible too. The buds can be diced and put into omelettes and soups, and the flowers can be used as a salad ingredient.
4. Most insects are repelled by chives because they contain sulphur, so they're useful plants to have in a garden. The exception to this is Bees, which are attracted to the flowers.
5. The name chive comes from the French word cive, which means onion. An old word for chives in Middle English was rush leek.
6. The Romans used chives as a treatment for sunburn and sore throats. However, their use came with a price according to Roman poet Marcus Valerius Martialis, who wrote that those with chives on their breath were “safe from being kissed to death.”
7. Old superstitions held that hanging a bunch of chives in your house would ward off evil spirits and disease.
8. 19^th century farmers in the Netherlands would feed chives to their Cows to enhance the taste of their milk.
9. Chives are good sources of vitamins A and C and also contain calcium, Iron, Potassium and manganese – but no cholesterol.
10. They grow almost everywhere – throughout most of Europe and also in the Americas, since early settlers took chives over there with them.

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