Short-term preserving

[Joy Beeson]

My garlic chives [Allium tuberosum (garlic chives, Oriental garlic,
Asian chives, Chinese chives, Chinese leek)] are sending up flower
stalks faster than I can eat them, and it's very important to pick
them all, since garlic chives are an invasive weed if you permit them
to bloom.

I have found that if I cut stalks into small pieces and stir them into
real yogurt (Ingredients: cultered milk), they will stay crisp and
zingy until the yogurt spoils. Garlic chives in yogurt make an
excellent sauce for many dishes.

Sometimes I miss buds when chopping, but they seem to keep quite well
uncut. I could probably preserve pieces long enough to fish out of
the yogurt.

Picking buds: run your fingers down to the base of the stalk and try
to bend it over your finger. If it snaps, it's tender enough to eat.
If it doesn't, draw the stalk between your fingers until you find a
spot where it does snap -- the stalk toughens from the bottom up.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/