Drying Chives

As I have mentioned previously, I have an abundance of chives growing out in the vegetable garden.  I have, apparently, over-planted!  With a surprisingly dry afternoon, a baby napping, and one child at the hardware store with husband, I found an opportunity to begin to harvest the chives.

I began mostly to give the asparagus some breathing room, as the chives have been encroaching on their space.  Once I had a healthy pile of pulled plants, I decided I could not just let them go to waste.  With baby awake from nap, I had to return to duty.  But later this afternoon, husband took a break from his project in the garage to relieve me from baby care.  I snuck off to the kitchen and began rinsing and trimming the chives.  Brought up the food dryer.  At this time, eldest child found me and asked to help.  In a few minutes time, we had the chives clean, trimmed and in the dryer.  All four layers are full!  I trimmed off the tough areas that grow close to the ground and cut just so the stems fit in the dryer.  I plan to chop them up after they dry.  I was afraid that if I chopped them up before drying them, they would begin to just fly around in the dryer.  So now, at 95 degrees F in my Nesco food dehydrater, the chives are drying.  Out on the veranda, to keep the house from smelling like onions.   The drying guide says it should take 20-24 hours to get them dry. 

If the drying works out, I may package some up to pass out around Christmas time.   There are so many more huge bunches of chives out in that garden to deal with!