Freezing Chives 2012

I freeze chives every year. 

After work today I had planned to pot up a few containers of perennials.  I even had everything ready and waiting...

But I ended up working 9.5 hours and when I got home it was barely 50 degrees and windy, so I decided to wait another day or two. 

I did notice that the chives on the deck were getting pretty big. The new spring chive growth is always the best, so I decided to cut these off and freeze them for the winter of 2012/2013.

I get a lot of people on my blog looking for "how to freeze chives", so I thought I would show you how simple it is. 

Step 1 - just cut down a handful of chives.

Step 2 - wash and dry completely

Step 3 - cut a long strip of plastic wrap and roll the chives in it.

Step 4 - Cut a long strip of foil and roll the plastic-wrapped chives in the foil. This is to double protect the chives from freezer burn.

 Step 5 - put the double-wrapped chives in a tin container to TRIPLE protect from freezer burn. After all, they are going to be in the freezer for 6 months to a year. It would be a shame to use them next December and find they taste freezer burned.

This container is large enough to hold many more herb rolls.  I will add a couple more chive rolls and a few other herbs that I grow this summer.

To use them, you just unwrap an inch of two and cut with scissors. 

These are some I froze last year. After I took this picture, I threw them in the garbage since I now have tons of fresh chives to use.

The first chives of the season are such a delicacy, that you must eat at least a few before freezing.

I put some on cottage cheese, then freshly-ground some pepper on top-YUM!