chinese chives, what are these, and where can you get them from, and is there an alternative/substitute to use?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

They are white chives.

Common garden chives (with purple flowers) are a perfectly good substitue and are less tough too eat. Suppliers claim that chinese chives and garlic chives have a stronger more garlic like taste, but I do not find any real difference.

I have grown various chives for about 20 years. Chinese chives flower much later and have larger foliage. You can persuade common chives to flower 2 or 3 times a year, white chives flower only once. They are very easy to grow, they require no watering once established and are winter hardy. Cutting increases spreading.

All the plant is edible, bulb, leaf, flowers and seed. The flowers stems are too tough to be of any culinary use.

There are several types as the first person said they can be called garlic chive, there a lot larger, triangular, and have a small yellow flower on top, but there are yellow chives and Vietnamese chives that can be used to for them, you will find them in larger Asian markets, there not expensive, and can be use raw or cooked in dishes, when I worked in Japan and Singapore we used them in many dishes for both garnish and a flavour component.

its also called Garlic Chives
can be found in most asian markets

if you can't find them, normal chives can be substituted, but won't be as garlicky flavored

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic_chiv…