Chive Flowers

This is the time of year when the ever-useful and ever-hardy chives begin to blossom their delicate purple puffs. Who knew that these purple flowers are not only beautiful but edible!

Some people pop them off the plant and use the flowers as garnishes for soups or salads. While I'm sure this would be a both beautiful and tasty way to add color to your plate, I went looking for a recipe to actually incorporate the flowers into a dish. Because how often do you actually get to cook a savory dish with something that's purple?

Chive Flower Butter
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- a handful of chive flowers, rinsed and chopped.

In a smallish bowl, mix petals with butter. When the petals are evenly incorporated, put butter on plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze for future use.

This made the prettiest stick of butter I've ever seen, with a somewhat strong garlicy onion taste. I used it when making chicken nuggets this week, and the result was a very flavorful coating on the nuggets. I was pleased. And I don't even like onion flavors!