Garlic scapes are a pure byproduct of rising hardneck garlic, however few gardeners put them to make use of. Discover out why you shouldn’t overlook this versatile veggie and use it in your cooking.
Garlic scapes are one of the crucial neglected kinds of produce within the backyard, which is a disgrace as a result of this vegetable is extremely versatile, simple to make use of, and scrumptious!
On this article, we’ll stroll you thru harvest, use, and retailer garlic scapes so you may put this multitalented veggie to make use of in your kitchen.
What Are Garlic Scapes?
A garlic scape is the flower bud and stem that develops on hardneck garlic varieties about one month earlier than the garlic head is able to harvest.
When younger, these scapes have a curled form and really tender flesh. As they mature, the stalk straightens and turns into extra fibrous. If left on the plant, the scape will finally produce a puff-ball-like flower with dozens of tiny white or purple blossoms.
Younger, tender scapes have a milder taste than garlic and a crisp texture. When uncooked, they style like a cross between garlic, chives, and shallots with a delicate onion taste and none of that garlic spiciness. When cooked, they tackle a sweeter taste, much like roasted garlic.
It’s attainable to get scapes to develop on some kinds of softneck garlic by stressing them into bolting. However if you need a big and predictable harvest of scapes, it’s good to plant a hardneck selection, as these all the time produce flowers. I exploit this German extra hardy variety from Baker Creek.
When to Harvest Them
Garlic vegetation usually produce scapes about one month earlier than the garlic head is prepared for harvest. Relying on the kind of garlic you planted and your particular local weather, your scapes will likely be prepared for harvest in late spring or early summer season.
As soon as the scape stalks start to develop, maintain a detailed eye on them. You wish to harvest them as soon as they’ve reached a good size, however earlier than they start to uncurl. The tighter the curl, the extra tender the scape.
For those who’re rising garlic for the bulb quite than the flower stalks, you’ll nonetheless wish to harvest the scapes. It’s because eradicating these flower stalks will assist reserve extra vitality for rising bigger garlic heads. So when you harvest your scapes, not solely will you get extra usable greens out of your backyard, however the garlic you harvest later will likely be even larger.
Tips on how to Harvest
Whenever you harvest garlic scapes, you wish to take away simply the thick, spherical flower stem and depart the leaves intact. You are able to do this by pulling on the scape or by reducing it with pruners.
For those who pull on the scape to take away it, make sure to gently maintain the leaves of the plant beneath the place the scape attaches to make sure you don’t by chance pull up the complete bulb. The advantage of utilizing this methodology is which you can simply get the complete scape which makes for a bigger harvest.
A better option to take away the scape is to chop it with scissors or pruners. To do that, merely find the purpose the place the scape meets the leaves and minimize it simply above this junction. This methodology is way faster however it’s possible you’ll depart behind somewhat bit of every stalk.
Your entire garlic scape is edible, together with the bulb on the finish. This bulb tends to be a bit extra fibrous than the stalk when eaten uncooked. But when cooking your scape, I like to recommend utilizing the bulb as properly, simply remember that it’s going to prepare dinner quicker than the remainder of the scape.
What to Do With Garlic Scapes
Very similar to scallions and chives, garlic scapes can be utilized so as to add taste to simply about any savory meal. However these allium greens are much more versatile due to their crisp texture and distinctive taste.
Listed here are a number of of my favourite methods to make use of garlic scapes.
In Place of Scallions
The stalks of garlic scapes can be utilized instead of scallions in just about any recipe. You may prepare dinner them as you’d scallion whites or use them uncooked as you’d with scallion greens. In both case, they may add an additional complexity to the flavour of the dish with notes of garlic, onion, and shallot.
As a Garnish
Garlic scapes have a splendidly pleasing uncooked taste. It isn’t as spicy as garlic or as pungent as uncooked onion. This makes it an ideal possibility for garnishing savory dishes.
I wish to slice my garlic scapes into skinny disks and use them instead of chives and scallion greens. That is an particularly useful trick in case your scapes mature after your scallions have change into too fibrous to make use of as a garnish.
Make a Pesto
You should use your garlic scape harvest to make a deliciously garlicky pesto sauce. All you want is a handful of scapes, some walnuts or pine nuts, lemon juice, olive oil, and spices. The flavour is intense and sophisticated and goes a good distance so somewhat does rather a lot.
I exploit it as a ramification on crusty bread, as a dip, and as a pasta sauce. This recipe is straightforward to customise to your tastes. For those who’re on the lookout for some inspiration, I like to recommend having a look at this garlic scape pesto recipe from Vanilla and Bean.
Pickle Them
Pickling garlic scapes isn’t solely an effective way to protect your harvest, however a beautiful option to benefit from the distinctive taste of this veggie. The crisp texture holds up properly to pickling, making a product that’s as satisfying as a crunchy dill pickle however with much more taste.
You should use our quick pickling method or true pickling to make garlic scape pickles. For a step-by-step pickled garlic scape recipe, take a look at this article. Nonetheless you make them, pickled scapes make an ideal topping for burgers, sandwiches, salads, and extra.
Make Compound Butter
Garlic scapes make a wonderful (and really tasty) compound butter. However for the most effective outcomes solely use very younger and tender scapes and be sure you blanch them first.
As soon as they’re ready, merely mince them totally then mash them with butter, salt, and lemon juice till absolutely integrated. This compound butter makes a wonderful topper for steak, steamed veggies, rice, crusty bread, and a lot extra.
Create Flavored Salt
Making your personal flavored salts is an effective way to make use of additional herbs from the backyard, and garlic scapes aren’t any exception. This salt has a pleasing garlic salt taste however with out that intense garlicky aftertaste (and odor). Use it as a spice or seasoning on nearly any savory dish.
To make garlic scape salt, begin by roughly chopping your scapes. Add them to a meals processor alongside along with your salt of alternative till you get a constant paste. Unfold it on a baking sheet and bake within the oven at 250 levels for about an hour.
Make Hummus
Garlic scapes make for a beautiful flavoring for selfmade hummus. They add a scrumptious garlic taste that’s subtler than what you get when utilizing roasted garlic. Plus, this selection is even simpler to make.
To start out, add your scapes, lemon, chickpeas, and somewhat salt to your meals processor. Pulse, including olive oil as wanted to get a clean ultimate product. For extra particular instructions, take a look at this garlic scape hummus recipe from Oats and Sesame.
Add to Pasta
One other easy option to put your scapes to make use of is so as to add them to pasta. They are often sliced and used as a garnish, sauteed, or cooked within the sauce. My favourite preparation is to chop the scapes into bigger chunks, saute them in butter, then toss them with pasta and parmesan.
You may as well prepare dinner the scapes with quite a lot of different greens. They style nice with each pink sauces and white and work properly with many various sorts of pasta.
In Place of Garlic or Onion
In case you have an abundance of scapes and don’t understand how else to make use of them, you may all the time add them to recipes instead of onion or garlic. This allium vegetable has lots of the similar taste notes as these two frequent substances however is rather more delicate. This makes it an ideal substitution when you don’t like the extreme zestiness or spice of garlic and onions.
Tips on how to Retailer Garlic Scapes
Every garlic plant solely produces a single garlic scape. For many gardeners, this makes for a comparatively small harvest. However when you went all-out on planting garlic or bought fortunate with a scape-filled CSA field, you will have extra garlic scapes than you realize what to do with.
If that’s the case, you’ll must know the most suitable choice for storing them, brief and long-term.
Within the Fridge
For brief-term storage, the fridge is your best choice.
Begin by lining a plastic bag or reusable silicone bag with damp paper towels or a humid, clear material. Place entire, unwashed scapes inside and put the bag within the fridge. They need to keep good for as much as six weeks.
Pickled
For longer-term storage, pickling your scapes is an effective way to go. Clearly, this adjustments the flavour a bit and limits their makes use of. However pickling them can prolong their shelf life by as much as a yr.
How lengthy your pickled scapes will final is determined by your pickling methodology. Fast pickles will keep good for about 3 months within the fridge if unopened. Canned pickled scapes (i.e. water bathtub canning) will final twelve months or extra.
Frozen
Freezing your garlic scapes is the simplest option to make them last more. You are able to do this in quite a lot of methods.
Freezer Luggage
The best option to freeze garlic scapes is to easily put them in a ziplock bag, squeeze the air out, and place the bag within the freezer. To make issues even simpler, I like to recommend chopping, slicing, or mincing them first, relying on how you might be most certainly to make use of them once they come out.
Thawed scapes are likely to lose a little bit of that crispness, so they’re tougher to chop as soon as they arrive out of the freezer. Chopping them into small items earlier than freezing them additionally makes it simpler to get the air out of the bag. Eradicating the air helps protect the flavour higher whereas additionally including to the shelf life.
Garlic scapes frozen this fashion will last as long as six months.
Ice Dice Trays
One other nice possibility for freezing scapes is to make use of ice dice trays. That is an particularly nice alternative when you are likely to solely use a small portion of scapes at a time.
Begin by slicing or mincing your scapes. Then place a single portion in every part of the tray. Add water to totally submerge the scapes, then pop the tray within the freezer.
Thaw these garlic scape ice cubes as wanted, then pressure to take away the water.
You may as well fill the cubes with olive oil or melted butter after which freeze. This can be a nice possibility when you plan to saute the scapes.
Ice dice scapes will final a couple of yr within the freezer.
Blanch and Freeze
Garlic scapes maintain their taste fairly properly within the freezer, however they received’t style precisely like recent scapes as soon as thawed. A method to assist higher protect this taste is to blanch your scapes earlier than freezing.
To do that, plunge your entire scapes into boiling water and depart for 2 minutes. Instantly take away and plunge them into an ice bathtub.
As soon as they’ve cooled, you may slice or mince them as wanted. Place them in a freezer bag or use the ice dice methodology, relying on how lengthy you want them to maintain.
