Garlic scapes are farmers market staple
Flavor jolt for pesto also great in salads, pasta, scrambled eggs
In this biweekly Farmers Market Spotlight, running through the fall, we feature a food item that’s available at a Capital Region farmers market, but usually not supermarkets, and offer tips on how to cook with it.
Spotlight: Garlic scapes. What is it: You can’t miss the wild tangles of garlic scapes at your farmers market. Thin, vibrantly green and lankynecked with a bulbous tip, these are the stalks of hardneck garlic that are harvested so the garlic can focus its energies on growing larger, more flavorful bulbs. Scapes are not unlike chives, scallions or, perhaps especially, ramps, with an unmistakable garlicky flavor that’s
a little more mild and sweet than garlic itself.
What to do with it: Garlic scapes are not just good blitzed with basil as pesto, though it’s the most commonly suggested use. Since they are crunchy like string beans or asparagus, they can be sliced and eaten raw in salads, grilled
or sauteed and stirred into pasta or scrambled eggs, pickled like ramps, chopped and mixed into compound butter or sprinkled as a finish like finely sliced scallions or chives. My favorite method is to snip off the wiry tops and bottoms, brush the full lengths with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast on an outdoor grill.
Here’s a more unexpected pro tip: Add these wild greens to floral arrangements. They last a good couple of weeks standing in water, but during this time they continue to age, and the bulbous tips fatten, yellow and split. Instead of a flower bud, they open to reveal a pod of tiny, juicy garlic "bulbils" at maturity. These are incredible tiny flavor jolts to sprinkle on salads, pastas, even chilled soup, with a swirl of good olive oil. Just tell your amazed friends that you heard it from me!
Where to find it: At every farmers market in late spring and early summer. Scapes shown here are from the Love Moore Family Farms of Castletonon-hudson stand at the East Greenbush Library & YMCA Farmers Market.
Price: $2.50 per bunch.