FOTD: Garlic Scapes

We grow our own garlic. All of it is propagated from the volunteer plants we found in the garden fifteen years ago. I like garlic in soups, omelettes, all the savory dishes. I’ll even eat a raw clove to get rid of a cold. What a great immune booster it is!

Garlic scapes Photo: Rebecca Cuningham

A friend told me how to tell when the bulbs underground are ripe, the foliage of the plants wilts because the growing phase is finished. I dig the “stinking roses” up with a shovel, sun dry them on the back porch, snip off the stems and keep them in a ceramic container in the pantry. My garlic stash usually lasts until January. Then I use the harvested garlic scape seeds as garlic, since I rarely catch them before they head that way. I find fresh garlic is more pungent. Good thing the whole household is eating it!

Do you like garlic? What are your favorite herbs or spices?

¡Olé! –Rebecca

Cee what botanical photographers are up to. Cee’s Flower of the Day #FOTD

Rebecca Cuningham

22 thoughts on “FOTD: Garlic Scapes

  1. Love garlic and here where I live on the Isle of Wight in England we have a very famous garlic farm with a 3-day festival every August. I use herbs a lot in my cooking, growing oregano, basil (2 types), fennel, mint, parsley (2 types), dill, sage (2 types), bay, thyme and rosemary. I have a small smoker and love to smoke garlic, it has such a different, softer flavour when it’s smoked. The garlic farm sells black garlic which I sometimes buy.

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    1. Thank you for your comments, Marie. After your description, I am anxious to travel to the Isle of Wight! Sounds like a wonderful place with great food. Love your list of herbs you grow. We have sage, oregano, lemon mint and chive. Is it the species of garlic or the growing conditions on the Isle that are unique? I would like to attend the festival one year!

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      1. I cook them with stew beans, stew peas, soups, Irish potatoes cooked in coconut milk and rice and peas with coconut milk. It is pretty flexible.

        I’ve never seen scapes sell at the supermarkets or markets in my country. I discovered scapes when I started growing garlic, I did research on it and found out they can be eaten and decided to try it. I’ve been using them ever since.

        Interestingly my initial reason for growing garlic was not to eat but because people say if you plant it between crops it can help to keep off pests.

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