Chives vs Green Onions

There's a lot of confusion in the air with regards to the terms scallions, green onions, leek, shallots, onions, chives, etc. Although all of them belong to the same onion family, there is a thin line of difference between them. In this article, we will only focus on chives vs green onions as scores of people are perplexed about green onions and chives being the same or of different onion species.

Green Onions

In the United States, green onions and scallions are used interchangeably to refer to the same thin green stalks ending in incomplete white onion bulbs. Unlike onions, the bulbs of green onions stay small and not as developed as the bulbs of onions. They also have a milder taste as compared to onions and provide subtle flavors than that imparted by regular onions to savory dishes.

Chives

Although found and grown all across Europe, chives are native to Central Asia. It belongs to the onion family and happens to be the smallest species of the onion family. Grown for their leaves, chives are mainly used as flavoring herbs while cooking. They impart a milder flavor to dishes as compared to their siblings in the onion family. Chives are tender, hollow, tubular leaves that possess a delicate onion flavor, which is why it is used in several culinary seasonings. Although mainly used in the fresh form, chives can be used in the dried as well as the powdered form.

Chive and Green Onion Difference

Green onions and chives bear semblance to each other and are also used in cooking, in order to add flavor to foods. Then what is the difference between chives and green onions?

Botanical Difference
While green onions belong to the genus and species: Allium fistulosum, chives belong to the genus and species Allium schoenoprasum. Moreover, chives are perennials, which means they return year after year, while onions are annuals that need to be harvested as soon as the stalks turn brown and fall over.

Reason for Harvesting
Green onions are mainly grown for their tender white bulbs than their green stalks. Chives on the other hand is harvested for its stalk rather than its bulb, as chives have very poorly developed bulbs.

Part Used
Chives have weakly developed bulbs, with only their green stalks being used for culinary purposes. The stalk is snipped and used as a garnish on various dishes, while the bulbs are discarded. Thus, in chives the underdeveloped bulbs are inedible. In case of green onions, both the tender white bulbs as well as the green stalks are edible.

Flavor
Green onions have a milder flavor than chives and the green stalks of green onions can be used to replace chives in several recipes. Chives are mainly snipped and added to dishes to give the dish an oniony flavor without having to add large chunks of onion into the dish.

Uses
Chives are used mainly for seasoning salads and flavoring pancakes, cottage cheese, stews, sandwiches, fish, soups, etc. Chives are widely used in Japan for seasoning several dishes, while in Poland chives are served with quark cheese. They also make lovely garnish when snipped raw over deviled eggs. Green onions on the other hand can be consumed raw after slicing or can be added to salads and sandwiches. Diced scallions are used in soups, seafood recipes, noodle preparations, etc.

There is a very thin line of difference between chives and green onions. They are closely related, however, they are not the same. They are different species grown and used for different purposes.