Featured Produce: Garlic Scapes

​Garlic scapes are one of my spring time favorites. After a winter of eating store bought garlic and onions, I get a little unnaturally excited for these early season alliums. Never heard of a garlic scape? It's not surprising, they aren't sold in the grocery store and are only available at markets for a short period each spring. Scapes are the shoots that grow from hard-neck varieties of garlic*.  They look like curly green stalks with tightly closed buds on top when they're young and tender. Farmers and gardeners harvest them in the late spring so that they won't drain nutrients from the garlic bulbs that will be dug up in a couple of months for storage. 

What to do with scapes? I chop them up small and use them in place of garlic when sautéing vegetables, toss them whole on the grill, or whizz them up into a herb pesto in the food processor. Scapes are milder than garlic, slightly sweet, and a great addition to your spring ingredient rotation.

*There are many varieties of garlic, some are hard neck, which produce scapes, and others are soft neck which do not. Most of the garlic available at the grocery store are soft neck varieties that do not form scapes. 

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Recipe: Scape Pesto

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup pine nuts (or walnuts, sunflower seeds, or almonds) 
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped garlic scapes*
• Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• A few generous grinds of black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (optional)

*Or use half scapes and half herbs such as basil, dill and chervil

For more ideas on what to do with scapes, check out the following post with 7 suggestions:   http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes
/2010/06/the-crisper-whisperer-what-to-do-with-garlic-scapes-recipe.html

Directions:

1. In a small, dry pan set over very low heat, lightly toast the nuts, stirring or tossing occasionally until just beginning to brown, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. 
2. Combine the scapes, pine nuts, lemon juice and zest, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse about 20 times, until fairly well combined. Pour in the olive oil slowly through the feed tube while the motor is running. When the oil is incorporated, transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in the grated cheese. If you plan to freeze the pesto, wait to add the cheese until after you've defrosted it.