Simpler Living Blog

AMISH COUNTRY, COOKING, GARDENING, HEALTHY LIVING, RECIPES, SMALL FARMS, SUSTAINABLE LIVING

A Garlic Prelude

A Garlic Prelude
  One of my favorite crops in my market garden is garlic. The cloves are planted in the fall and  start putting down roots before lying dormant over the winter. In the spring, they take off growing again and are flourishing in this year's wet weather. In June, the plants are two feet plus in height and start sending up their flower scape, often making an elegant full curl. Garlic growers remove the scape in order to send more energy to producing a larger size bulb. The scapes can add a tasty garlicky addition to cooking while we wait for the bulbs to mature. In Ohio, we will start pulling garlic bulbs for harvest in July when about half the leaves are brown. To prepare scapes, discard the flowering end as it can be a bit stringy, and then the tender portion can be chopped and used like an onion scallion in recipes and it offers a delightful mild garlic flavor. They are excellent in soups, stir-fries, pesto and anywhere you might use onions or garlic. Here are a few suggestions to get you started. [tasty-recipe id="37478"] [tasty-recipe id="37486"]  The scapes also freeze well and can be put whole or chopped into plastic freezer containers for a quick pungent addition to winter meals. I also plan to experiment with lacto-fermenting a batch of scapes this season. Other uses for the scapes include a quirky addition to flower bouquets, and our children think they make grand frisbees or bracelets. For a by-product that is frequently just discarded in the compost pile, there are many versatile options that can transform scapes into a valuable harvest. Recently, I worked with five area Amish garlic growers to gather almost 1,000 bundles of a dozen scapes each for a large CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in Cleveland. Our mini-van was completely packed full of boxes of the curly scapes. Our family was excited to be a part of keeping nearly $1,000 in the local economy, benefiting both the farmers and the eaters. Lehman's played a part in making these connections possible, as they were one of the sponsors for a Kidron farming event in March that promoted produce growing and marketing among area growers. The farmers are saying a big thank you! You should be able to find scapes at the farmers market this time of year. If you want to try growing some of your own, look for locally grown seed garlic available in Lehman's retail store starting late August.
Did you make this recipe?Share a photo and tag us — we can't wait to see what you've made!

0 Comments

Share Lehman's

Lehman's

People Also Enjoyed Reading