Flowering Garlic Chives

APPEARANCE: As the name explains, this vegetable is the flower (fa) of garlic chives (gau choi). Identity it in the market as simple, smooth, leafless, green stems 8 to 10 inches long, about as thick as a ballpoint pen refill, with a single conical bud at the tip of each. (Flowering garlic shoots, suen sum, are thicker, about the diameter of a pencil.)

QUALITY: The smaller, harder and tighter the flower head, the younger the stalk and the more tender it is likely to be. Those with open flowers are considered too old to eat.