Herb library · Spice · Allium schoenoprasum
Chives
The smallest of the onions, grown for its hollow grass-like leaves and eaten as a mild onion flavor. It is a food herb; no study in people has tested it, and its reported medicinal properties come from lab work.
Traditional use
Grown across Europe and northern Asia and used fresh on eggs, potatoes and soups. A 2018 review notes its use in folk medicine alongside cooking. In 1652 Culpeper added chives to his herbal only at a reader's request, calling them "a kind of leeks" and, in the humoral theory of the time, hot and dry in the fourth degree.
Traditional energetics
Galenic (hot or cold, dry or moist)
Hot and dry in the fourth degree. Culpeper's Complete Herbal (1814), p. 50 (opens in a new tab)
What studies show
No studies in people of this herb on its own yet. What is known of it comes from the traditions that use it.
- Insufficient
No study of chives in people was found. A 2018 review lists anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and blood-pressure effects in lab and animal work and calls for systematic research on its active compounds and safety.
- Insufficient
Sickle cell disease: in a 2021 lab test, chive extract added to blood samples from 5 people with sickle cell anemia made their red cells less flexible, which the authors note does not model eating chives. It is a test-tube finding, not a study in people.
Be careful of
Cautions
- AllergyAllergy is possible: a 2003 case report describes a vegetable farmer with hand eczema from handling chives, spinach and arugula.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“they are indeed a kind of leeks, hot and dry in the fourth degree as they are, and so under the dominion of Mars; if they be eaten raw, (I do not mean raw, opposite to roasted or boiled, but raw, opposite to chymical preparation) they send up very hurtful vapours to the brain”
Sources
- Allium schoenoprasum L.: a review of phytochemistry, pharmacology and future directions (Nat Prod Res, 2018) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Aqueous extract of chives (Allium schoenoprasum L.) plant impairs erythrocyte deformability in sickle cell patients (Clin Hemorheol Microcirc, 2021) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Contact dermatitis caused by spinach, hedge mustard and chives (Hautarzt, 2003) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.