Whipped Chive Butter with Blossoms

Chive butter is an easy compound butter, that makes food so much more special.

I love butter and herbs. It is the perfect combination of fresh flavours with decadence.

And this time I made whipped butter and topped it with chive blossoms. It was so pretty and tasty I had to share it.

This summer I have been on a mission to really enjoy ALL of the seasonal foods that I usually miss when I am travelling.

It is a bit more commitment than I expected.

It meant a week of exploring rhubarb recipes and trying to remember all of the radish recipes I tried in Central America, especially as they are in a lot of Guatemalan dishes.

       

And I completely forgot about chives until I was in my Aunt Margaret’s backyard and saw she had a big bush of thriving chives with blossoms just on the cusp of decline.

I knew I had to do something, quick!

The absolute tastiest and easiest ways to enjoy chives and their vibrant purple blossoms are to whip them into butter or to make chive blossom vinegar.

So snagged some of hers (thanks!) and knew both chives recipes needed to be made that afternoon.

       

Growing Chives at Home

A few years ago I noticed that many people in Toronto were growing chives as an ornamental plant. Not only were people doing it at their homes but they were popular in city landscaping.

They can grow quite large and the purple flowers are beautiful but so many people don’t bother to touch them.

I love the flavour of fresh garlic/onion flavour. It’s why I’ve shared so many ramp recipes and am obsessed with green garlic and garlic scapes recipes.

All of those have such a short growing season but chives tend to last from spring into early summer.

       

Compound Butter aka Herb Butter

Originally I was just going to make a compound butter with chives. Compound butters sound very sophisticated but it simply means you mix butter with ingredients.

It is very common for gardeners to mix herbs into their butter, form it into a log in plastic wrap and then chill it until it can be sliced as small medallions.

Compound butter is great because it preserves the fresh herb flavour later in the year. And it’s a good excuse to eat butter.

       

Taking it Up a Notch with Whipped Butter

Whipped butter is usually served at restaurants and people get so excited about it.

Not only is it a light tasty butter for spreading on bread, but restaurants love it because whipping air into butter means they can stretch the cost of a very expensive ingredient.

Whipped butter isn’t just for restaurants. You can easily make it at home with a mix master, larger mixer or hand blender.

For this homemade whipped butter recipe I whipped 1 tablespoon of milk into the butter, but you can also use water or no liquid at all.

       

Whipped Chive Butter Ingredients

I find with any really simple recipe you need to use fresh, high quality ingredients because you can’t really hide them.

• ½ lbs best unsalted butter you can find. I used Cows Creamery
• ¼ cup diced chives
• 4 chive blossoms, separated and removed from stem
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 tablespoon milk or butter (optional) for whipping

I think a tablespoon of great parmesan, pecorino or grana padano cheese would also be really nice in this but I wanted to keep this recipe simple.

       

How to Use Chive Butter

You basically use garlic chive butter anywhere you’d use butter. Last night I tossed steamed yellow wax beans in it. And I loved it. But that’s just me.

Chive blossom butter is also great on:

• Fresh rolls
• Steak (if you didn’t know, restaurant steak is amazing because they throw a pat of butter on it when it’s done)
• Potatoes, either mashed potatoes or a warm potato salad
• Fish
• Corn on the cob
• Grilled vegetables
• Garlic toast

       

How to Make Chive Butter

While you can make compound butter all year round by buying them in a supermarket, you likely won’t get the chive flowers.

I think chive flower butter is the best, simply because it’s beautiful enough to give friends…or your Aunt after you took a bunch of her chives without telling her.

Store in the refrigerator for a week or up to two months in the freezer.

Freezing chive compound butter is easy, simply put into small portions in advance so you only take out what you need.