Showing Food Chinese chives

General Information

Name

Chinese chives

Scientific Name

Allium tuberosum

Description

Allium tuberosum, (commonly known as garlic chives, Chinese chives, Oriental garlic, Chinese leek, also known by the Chinese name kow choi (also transliterated as gau choy; Chinese: ??; pinyin: Ji?cài; Wade?Giles: Chiu3-ts'ai4; Jyutping: gau2 coi3), or the Japanese name nira, is a vegetable related to onion. The Chinese name for the species is variously adapted and transliterated as cuchay, jiucai, kucai, kuchay, or kutsay in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It is also sometimes called "green nira grass" where "nira" is Romanization of the Japanese word "??" which means garlic chives. The plant has a distinctive growth habit with strap-shaped leaves[5] unlike either onion or garlic, and straight thin white-flowering stalks that are much taller than the leaves. The flavor is more like garlic than chives. It grows in slowly expanding perennial clumps, but also readily sprouts from seed. In warmer areas, garlic chives may remain green all year round. In cold climates, aerial parts of garlic chives will die back completely to the ground and the roots/rhizomes will over-winter and then re-sprout in spring time.

Primary ID

FOOD00216

Picture