All of a sudden, everyone is talking about garlic scapes. A recent issue of a: NEW YORK newspaper featured an article entitled “The Freshest Tastes of Summer.” Top on their list was the gourmand’s new favorite: the garlic scape. (And at a whopping $6 a bunch!) Apparently garlic scapes are showing up in all of the top chef’s restaurants this year.
Up until two weeks ago, I had never even heard of a garlic scape. It was at my weekly pick-up at the farm that I read the sign: “Garlic scapes: 1 bunch per share, use like garlic.” Upon my return home, I immediately did an Internet search to find out how exactly I’d be using this long green curly stem. I learned that the garlic scape is the very top of a growing garlic’s shoot. This time of year it twirls and curls…and is snipped off to use in food. I had never heard of such a thing and ran out to check the garlic I was growing in my own garden: yup. Garlic scapes.
To use garlic scapes, you should cut off the top flowery part of the stem and cut the rest into very small slices. I understand it can then be used like garlic or even chopped like chives and put on scrambled eggs, to top off rice or pasta dishes or just sautéed in olive oil in place of regular minced garlic. It can also be used in pesto, which is a huge favorite around here, so that’s the recipe I tried.
To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed! The recipe I tried called for garlic scapes and no basil, so I should have known then I wouldn’t like it that much. Luckily I got more scapes the following week at the farm as well as some from my home garden, so I plan on trying to cook with them again. This time I plan on using some of the fresh basil that’s abounding outside as well as some regular garlic.
– Contributed by Guest Blogger Gina Sampaio
If you notice a hole in the upper left-hand corner of your Farmers' Almanac, don't return it to the store! That hole isn't a defect; it's a part of history. Starting with the first edition of the Farmers' Almanac in 1818, readers used to nail holes into the corners to hang it up in their homes, barns, and outhouses (to provide both reading material and toilet paper). In 1910, the Almanac's publishers began pre-drilling holes in the corners to make it even easier for readers to keep all of that invaluable information (and paper) handy.
