Garlic Scapes

Last year, I posted about how everything came in two to three weeks early. Garlic scapes were cut on June 12th. This year, I'm harvesting them two weeks later. Garlic Scapes are the flower pod for the garlic bulb. If you don't cut off the garlic scape, it will go to seed and flower. When this happens, the plant sends all its energy to reproducing the flower pod and takes it's energy away from the bulb. But, if you cut off the garlic scape, all the energy goes to the bulb. This is how you get a nice, full bulb of garlic come the fall.

An added benefit is using the garlic scape for some great eating. Some folks use the scape in stir fry like a scallion. I've also been told to marinate them in soy sauce. But my all time favorite way to prepare Garlic Scapes is to make pesto. Just take the Garlic Scape, put it in a food processor with some salt (and maybe some cayenne pepper) and drizzle in some nice olive oil. We put the pesto in sterilized jars and freeze. Then, we enjoy the pesto in soup, with pasta, in salad dressing and as a vegetable marinade before we put them on the grill. Harvest your garlic scapes now and tell me what you like to do with them.