Hello! And welcome to the very last weekend in June! Happy official start to summer! And now the days are getting shorter. And July already next week. Time flies when you’re having fun. Time flies even when you are not having fun!

At any rate, gardening this season has really been really challenging! Hot, cold, wet, dry – you name it – we’ve had it! We have been stressed; some of our garden stuff has been stressed. What isn’t stressed out in my garden is my garlic bed. And all of that garlic is once again nice and early in putting out their delicious seed heads.

Delicious seed heads, you ask? Yes, these seed heads are called garlic scapes, and they happen to be one of the latest gourmet food craves. Let me digress a bit.

Keep in mind - the goal of every plant is to reproduce – to make more of itself – to make seed. Garlic is no exception. But gardeners are not interested in the garlic seed – the stuff above the ground. They want the growing cloves under the ground to concentrate all their energy to form nice, big, succulent garlic bulbs. They do not want the garlic plants to waste any of their time, potting around making itty, bitty garlic seeds that take too long for form garlic bulbs anyway.

So usually gardeners pop off the tops of those seed heads, pop off those garlic blossoms before they open, before they get pollinated, before they form seed.

But hold on – Do not discard those garlic seed heads. I repeat – DO NOT discard those garlic heads. Because …………………..This is definitely something that you must try. Instead of just popping off those garlic seed heads, remove the whole stalk all the way down to the leaves. These garlic seed stalks are also called garlic scapes. And these happen to be a terrific gourmet taste treat. Yes, you can actually eat them. Yes, now you can have really nice big garlic bulbs under the ground, and eat your garlic seed heads above then ground. And it’s almost a 100% guarantee that you will like them!

Traditionally gardeners generally remove all those seed heads from their hard-neck garlic to help the garlic plant focus on what is below the ground, not above. Well, someone, somewhere, a while back decided that those garlic seed heads should not go to waste. Some galloping gourmet has deemed these as edible!

So when your garlic scapes, those garlic seed stalks, are newly budded, and while they are in full curl, they are delightfully tender and have a subtle garlic flavor. So plan on getting your knives sharpened.

Cut them when they curl between ½ and ¾ turns. Once those scapes have straightened, and the flower top is maturing, they are then too tough and too unappetizing.

So now what to do with them? Here are some cooking hints:
~ Don’t over cook them; they tend to get tough and stringy. Cut them into 2-inch lengths, sauté them in a little olive oil on medium heat, add salt and pepper to taste, and enjoy this delightfully tasty, elegant treat.

~ Cut them into 2-inch lengths, and steam them until tender. They will have the texture of freshly cooked, tender green beans with a delightfully gentle garlic flavor.

~ Garlic scape spears can almost be used like asparagus.

~ And you can chop them up and use them in stir-fries.

~ And you can also make a garlic scapes pesto that is to die for.

And you can give Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County a call at 376-5270 for a 6-page garlic scape recipe sheet. Or you can stop on by at the office to pick up a copy.

Or you can stop on by and ask for your copy at the Lowville Farmers’ Market, yes, today from 8:30 until 2 in the Forest Park Pavilion on the beautiful Lewis county Fairgrounds. Hey, stop on by for graduation presents, graduation party foods, and graduation garlic scapes. Hey we even have graduation strawberries, early tomatoes, greens and plenty of friendly faces.

Remember – Eat Smart New York!

And – Bye – Talk to you soon!
D