The garlic is scaping! If you planted garlic in the fall, sometime in mid-summer it starts to bloom. The curvy flower buds are called scapes, and most gardeners cut these off as soon as they form so that the plant will put its energy into the head of garlic underground instead of the flowers and seeds up top. As soon as you see those scapes forming, cut them off and bring them into the kitchen!
We tossed the scapes with a little olive oil and put them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. They were roasted at 350 degrees until they were soft and slightly turning brown.
After roasting you can either eat the scapes as is, chop them into any pasta, egg or soup dish, or put them into the food processor (that’s what we did) with assorted garden greens and blend them into pesto. We used arugula and kale greens from the garden with a bit of basil, olive oil and toasted pine nuts. We tossed this pesto with pasta and parmesan cheese.
Yes, you can buy garlic scapes at the store, buy why??? Plant garlic cloves in the fall, and you’ll have scapes as well as heads of garlic the following summer.
In addition to roasting the scapes, you can saute them in oil, or just chop them into little pieces and add to whatever dish you’re cooking. Just be sure to pick them when they are young and tender!
