1.) When harvested while still young & tender they are delicious, similar to the experience of adding chives or scallions to soups, salads and sandwiches. I just blanched mine and ate them as-is without adding a single ingredient. I think they would pair nicely with a steak or burger, or at least in the mashed potatoes alongside your meat. Many rave about scapes in pesto, hummus and guacamole. {You’ll have to grind them up}.
2.) Even when plucked past their prime, they can still be steamed, stir-fried, sauteed or grilled with a little butter, olive oil, salt and pepper. Try adding them to your eggs, pasta or pizza. Taste one before adding to any dish, the flavor is quite strong! Remember that it’s still garlic after all. The woodier the stem, the more bitter the taste which is another reason to harvest early.
3.) Snipping off the scapes potentially causes the garlic bulbs to grow up to 35% bigger. By cutting off the scape you are saying “Hey plant, send all your energy downward to increase your bulb size instead of putting it toward flowers and seed.” So if you’re trying to grow huge garlic like I am, you’ll want to remove those scapes.
4.) When you eat your scapes, you’re eating a food that typically gets thrown out and discarded. At best, they’d get plopped into the compost bin. So not only are you sampling a new food, but you’re putting food to work that packs a lot of flavor.
5.) I’m still a month or so away from being able to harvest any of my fresh garlic bulbs. Scapes allow me to enjoy fresh garlic flavor a little early. Beyond the flavor, they add a little bulk to my stir-fry in a similar way that bok choy does. I’d treat the scapes just like you do any green vegetable. When chewing the scape, I find the texture to be very similar to asparagus. And just like asparagus, when the woody base of the stem gets too large, just chop off and discard.
If you’re harvesting your own scapes, do so in the middle of day. When you harvest in the heat of the afternoon, the sap from the stalk will dry more quickly. If you cut in the morning, this will drain the plant and leave it more vulnerable to disease.
To harvest, just snap the stalk with your finger just above that first set of leaves. You can also use scissors or pruners like I did. You can even eat the slim green leaves and the bud-like structure at the end. They taste good!
Scapes will store in your fridge for several days in a Ziploc bag. You can even put them in a glass of water on the counter too. When curling, they are quite photogenic! Similar to green beans, scapes don’t come in all at the same time. So you can harvest just enough to use for each meal and leave the rest of scapes on the plant until ready to eat.
If you choose to leave the scape on the plant, it will form a flower and then seed. You can even eat those seeds!
love gardening ,don’t have a green thumb!!!!!
Great ideas for using garlic scapes. I haven’t had a lot of luck with planting garlic or chives for some reason. I’ll give it another try. I’d forgotten all about wanting to plant some.