In this blog we are going to tell you about Difference between Chives and Scallions, so read this blog carefully to get the complete information.
As we know that onions play an important role in our food. It is also consumed in salads. Even most people think that a lot of food items are tasteless without onion. Onion is present in various types of food that we consume every day such as omelets for breakfast. But most people don’t know that various types of onions differ from each other depending on their origin, use, and application in food. Such two types of onions include Chives and Scallions. So in this article, we will focus on what Chives and Scallions are and how they differ from each other so that you can identify the difference and make proper use of them in food.
What are Chives?
Chives is a term used for Allium schoenoprasum which is the smallest species of the onion family. It is an edible and perennial plant whose native places include Asia, Europe, and North America. They are herbs that are widely used in all parts of the world and are available in grocery stores. Most people also grow them in their home gardens because they have insect repellent characteristics and they can control pests in your garden. The scapes and immature flower buds of chives that are unopened can be chopped and used as an ingredient for the preparation of soups, potatoes, and fish along with many other dishes. The chives have leaves that are tubular or sometimes flat and thus they are normally thinner than scallions. The upper green portion of chives is usually used for garnishing food dishes.
What are Scallions?
Scallions also belong to Allium species but are different from chives in terms of their relatively mild flavor of onion. Scallions are often used as a vegetable only and can be either consumed raw or can be used in cooking as well. All variants of Allium species have hollow green leaves but they all lack a properly-developed root bulb. Scallions are known by other common names that include green onion, salad onion, table onion, spring onion, etc. So we can say that scallions are mainly those onions which we can consume in our salads. The both upper Green part and the lower white part of scallions are consumed.
Main Differences between Chives and Scallions
The leaves of these two types of onions have certain differences. Also, they differ in terms of their culinary uses. The following are some differences between Chives and Scallions as mentioned below:
- Chives belong to Allium schoenoprasum which is the smallest species of the onion genus and is edible. On the other hand, Scallions also belong to the allium species and are commonly used as a vegetable only that can be either consumed raw or used in cooking as well.
- Chives are usually thinner than scallions so can be easily identified by appearance.
- Chives have leaves that are tubular or sometimes flat depending on their species while it is not the same for scallions.
- The upper green portion of chives is used in garnishing food dishes whereas both the upper green and lower white parts of scallions are consumed.
- Chives have a flavor but they lose it when they are cooked whereas scallions do not lose their flavor and thus can be used raw or in preparing recipes.
- Chives are used for garnishing purposes including pancakes, baked dishes, sandwiches, soups, fried vegetables, and others while scallions are used in any recipe that requires white or green onions.
- Scallions can be used as an alternative to chives but you can substitute chives for scallions.
Conclusion
Both Chives and Scallions are types of onions that are used all over the world. Onions are used in most recipes, especially in Indian cooking. But the two onions differ from each other concerning their culinary uses and properties. Chives are mostly used for garnishing as they can be chopped finely or cut into large pieces. On the other hand, scallions are most used in dishes and especially in salads. If you do not have chives then you can use scallions in place of them but you cannot use chives in place of scallions. So we hope that this article was helpful and has cleared your doubts related to the two terms.
We Hope this blog is sufficient enough to provide the information about Difference between Chives and Scallions. Thanks for reading this blog.
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