Garlic Scapes?

Somewhere in June, I started seeing blogs and articles raving about garlic scapes. What the heck is a garlic scape? Turns out, it is the stalk of the garlic bulb and contains a flower bud at the top. Farmers cut off the talks to encourage growth in the bulb as opposed to growth in the flower. The stalks can be long and straight or curly and somehow became the "it" thing of the food world this year. Curious, I purchased some at the local farmer's market in June and immediately went home to try them out.



The farmers instructed to use the stalks as a direct substitute for garlic. Bloggers chronicled how they grilled them and served, just like asparagus. I turned mine into the most prevalent method: garlic scape pesto.

I chopped the stalks into smaller pieces (they were surprisingly tough!) and dropped them in the food processor, along with olive oil, pecorino and pine nuts and pureed until smooth-chunky. A quick spoonful showed me that garlic scapes are intense -- this was no mild chive flavor, but total garlic. I backed off my original plans and spread some on a crusty piece of bread and froze the rest. Later, I went back and used some of my saved pesto on stuffed pasta and thinned it out with a little pasta water -- that was much better; less intense and more subtle.

Will they still be in favor come next spring, or will they be replaced by a new "gotta try it" item? Time will tell!