What to do with Garlic Scapes

This is our first year to grow a large planting of hard neck garlic (about 12 lbs worth). We plan to harvest all this garlic and replant it all to expand our supply. In the name of increased productivity, the garlic scapes (flower bulb) had to be cut off yesterday to prevent them zapping the bulbs. Virtually all of our garlic had produced scapes by the time we cut them (Music, Chesnock Red, and Inchillium Red). I honestly would like to see them bloom, but tough luck. Note: soft neck garlic, like you normally buy at the grocery store, doesn't normally make a flower bulb and basically is a clone. This flower allows the hard neck to cross pollinate and produce hybrid offspring from the seed garlic made within the flower bulb. Garlic scapes are sort of like eating the chives from onions + mild garlic flavor.

Garlic scapes on hard neck garlic

About a year ago, we travelled to Asheville, NC and stopped at a farmers co-op and had a breakfast biscuit. That was the most heavenly biscuit I ever ate. I have a thing about good biscuits, and this was one the best. Little did I know they'd put garlic scapes in it. I didn't even know what a garlic scape was before then, but I was bound and determined duplicate that biscuit (which has resulted in coutless failed attempts). If I ever do properly duplicate it, I promise to post a recipe.

Garlic Scape Cheddar Biscuits

Anyhow, now I have 2.5 lbs of scapes grown from 12 lbs of garlic (lots of scapes right?), so did my research on what I can do with all these rascals.

STORAGE OPTIONS:

• Fresh: Store fresh in a flower vase for looks until you're ready to eat (might not want to store them this way for too long though)
• Refrigerate: Store fresh in fridge for about a month.
• Freeze: Food process or just blanche then freeze. Note: I like to make it into an pesto and then freeze it. It's very garlicky but not so much so that you can't enjoy it. Honestly, I still like traditional basil pesto better, but it is still really good, particularly if you're looking for creative uses for it b/c of the quantity you have (see recipe below).
• Pickle: Can them in vinegar brine like you would cucumbers
• Dehydrate: Food process, or finely dice then dehydrate to make a garlic spice. Mortar and pestle or crumble in hands afterwords to get a finer consistency. If you make it very fine, you can make a blend (salt, dried garlic spice, etc..) otherwise it will be more of a chive spice consistency
• Maybe others, who knows'

VARIOUS USES:

Garlic Scape Pesto
~1 cup grated Parmesan or Tallegio cheese
~1-2 fresh lime/lemon juice + zest (or about 3 Tbsp)
~1/2 lb. garlic scapes - originally I weighed out a pound's worth but my giant food processor started filling up at what I'd estimate was half of that. And I quickly realized that was PLENTY of pesto. So I mostly just size it by the size it takes to fill up my food processor before processing. Chop it up and it goes down to about the half-way mark. Then add cheese, nuts, peas, and salt. Blend. Then add oil and blend (thus all the approximate marks).
~1/2 cup olive oil (however much it takes to get the consistency right)
~1 cup of toasted pine nuts, almonds, pecans, or walnuts- I prefer pine nuts but they are pricey. Once my pecan trees start making nuts, I'll probably just start using that in most recipes calling for nuts.
~1 cup of steamed English peas - this just dilutes the garlic-ness a bit and also gives it a good consistency. Can't really taste the peas.
~1/4 cup of fresh basil (if you have it, if not, no biggie) - when I made mine, I had garlic scapes but only tiny basil plants, so I went and nipped a few to add in
Salt to taste


Note: If you plant to eat it soon, just put it in a tall jar and top off with olive oil, then put a top on it to prevent oxidation. Or you can freeze it but be sure to get rid of all the air in the ziplock bag. Previously frozen pesto has a milder garlic taste. Can serve over toasted bruschetta or pasta with a side of grilled red bell pepper and/or steamed broccoli

Garlic Scape Pesto

Scapes as a Substitute for Garlic
Use them like garlic, as an aromatic in a wide variety of recipes. Scapes lose a lot of their bite when sautéed, more so than garlic cloves, so use at least three or four times as much scape-age as you would clove-age.



Scapes In Stir Fry
Scapes are popular in Asian dishes anyhow. Use in place of scallions or chives. Really you can use them in place of scallions or chives in any recipe, just about.

Asian Stir Fry with Garlic Scapes

Grilled Scapes as a Substute for Asparagus
Another great, and very different, way to showcase scapes is to grill them, tossed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, over direct heat for about two minutes. Flip them once, halfway through, and finish with an extra sprinkle of flaky salt and maybe a bit of lemon juice and zest. They'll be charred in spots and just soft enough, and their flavor will have sweetened and mellowed dramatically. Grilled scapes are surprisingly reminiscent of asparagus, and surprisingly different from raw scapes.

Grilled Scapes - Served Like Asparagus

Roasted Garlic Scapes
Take the scapes and put them in a lightly oiled roasting pan, top with salt (kosher or sea salt works best). Put the loaded and covered pan in a hot (425°F) oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until they are beginning to turn brown. serve as a side or main dish. Tastes like roasted garlic but creamier. This is also good drizzled with a light cheese sauce.



Sauted Scapes
Just tonight I boiled then sauted fresh beets in balsamic then tossed in some diced scallions at the last second. I usually just leave it with beets and balsamic but the scapes were a great mild garlic addition.



Scape Quiche
Or could just as easily just include them in an omlet

Garlic Scape Quiche

Garlic Scape Mashed Potatoes
Only add a little, then taste. This stuff's weird how you sometimes need a lot to equal a garlic clove and other times not. So best to add too little than too much.

In Flower Arrangement
Weird but cool, plus they're pretty to look at up until you EAT them.

Garlic Scape Flower Arrangement

Or let let them bloom

Garlic Flowers

Garlic Scape Vinegar
1 cup of white or rice vinegar with 1-2 fresh bruised green scapes. Let infuse 10 days for max flavor. Can replace scapes to keep pretty green color going. This could just as easily end being pickled scapes as well. Just cram more scapes in. Then you're primary eating the scapes vs the flavored vinegar.

Garlic Scape Flavored Vinegar