
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.
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.
Recipe: Scape Pesto
Ingredients:
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:
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