You're Probably Slicing Your Chives Wrong

Chives are herbs with an onion-like scent and flavor. They're often confused with scallions because they both look like long green needle-like leaves. However, chives are much thinner and more delicate than scallions and have edible flowers. Their flavor is also milder than that of other leafy alliums, therefore, to avoid destroying that subtle taste with heat, this herb is often used in its raw state for garnishing various dishes like herbed potato salad. Besides avoiding heat damage, another critical concern when handling chives is how you cut them. 

The right way is using the slicing technique or the back-slice method both of which ensure clean-cut lines. If you use a chopping motion to cut your chives where you press down on the bundle of herbs with the blade there's a high chance you'll damage their fragile structure. This can make the herbs bruise and not look uniform in size, which isn't appealing, especially since you're likely using them as a garnish. 

Additionally, how you hold the chives while cutting is vital. While you'll want to keep the herb strands together so they don't roll around and annoy you during cutting, avoid gripping them too firmly and risking crushing those delicate thin leaves. So to slice your chives correctly you'll need to master knife movement, your hand grip on the herbs, and use the right tools.

Begin by grabbing your chef's knife and make sure the blade you're using is very sharp. Now lay the chives on a stable cutting board and align them together. To keep the herbs from spreading around, you can hold them together into a bundle using a rubber band. Alternatively, fold a damp paper towel into a strip and use it to wrap around the chives to keep them together.

To cut the chives with the back-slice method, use your dominant hand to slide the knife blade through the bundle coming from the front to back (toward yourself) in a gliding motion. Once the knife goes through and slices the chives, bring it back to the front and repeat the motion until you finish cutting the herb. Remember to always keep your nondominant hand that's holding the chives in a claw position with the fingers tucked in to maintain a good grip on the ingredient, which is also Anthony Bourdain's advice for safely slicing onions to prevent accidental injuries.

Apart from the back-slice method, you can also use the usual slicing method that employs a forward motion with the knife. This is one of the common knife-cutting techniques used to cut delicate ingredients so they don't get bruised in the process. Finally, using kitchen shears is also a great way to cut chives. Ensure the scissors are sharp and snip away at the leaves from the very top.