Did you know?

Soons Orchards grows garlic!*

We will likely start garlic harvest in another month or so, but right now we’ve got scapes!

 

So what are garlic scapes, and what do I do with them?

 

Garlic scapes—slim, serpentine flower stems—grow from the tops of hardneck garlic. Farmers have long known that removing them encourages the plant to direct its energy toward growing a plump underground bulb, but only recently has this agricultural byproduct begun to find its way to farmers’ markets and community-supported agriculture boxes, usually in early summer.

 

Our tasters found that raw garlic scapes have an assertive garlic flavor that’s less fiery and more grassy than that of raw cloves. Because garlic scapes have a tough and fibrous texture, we found that they worked best minced or pureed for raw applications. (The stem ends and the flower pods can be quite fibrous even when cooked, so we trim them before use.)

Pureed with olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and pine nuts, they produced a simple yet potent pesto.

 

When the scapes were cooked, tasters noted that the garlic flavor became more muted and sweet—more like roasted garlic than raw—and the texture was impressively dense and meaty. For the simplest preparation, we tossed the scapes with oil, salt, and pepper and cooked them on the grill over medium-high heat until they were softened and lightly charred, about 15 minutes. We also found that they worked very well when substituted for the green beans in a spicy stir-fry, as their mellow garlic flavor complemented the heat.

 

Garlic scapes are very hardy; they can be refrigerated in a zipper-lock bag, left slightly open, for several weeks or more. For longer life, freeze them in 1-inch pieces in ziplocks. Then grab a handful and add them to soups, stews, stir fry, or anywhere else that you would use garlic. They hold up well and remain firm.

 

*special thanks to our garden guru & manager Jacinto Carino for getting us into garlic!