This is my first season growing garlic. We planted eight rare or heirloom varieties last fall, and I just noticed the scapes had come up last week on the hard neck varieties. I’ve never seen garlic scapes before, nevermind cooked with them, so I was eager to harvest them and give them a try. What is pictured above came from my Shantung Purple garlic plants. I chopped the scapes (minus the woody bottoms and the flower tops) and sauteed them with some spinach from the garden. The garlic flavor was nice, but milder than I expected.

I am looking forward to tasting the differences between the different varieties of garlic. I might have to have an official taste-testing party, with roasted and fresh garlic. Maybe compare them in some pesto, whole roasted cloves, and fresh garlic in olive oil? Sounds like fun on a summer evening.

Technorati Tags: garlic, kitchen garden, spinach

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