Garlic Scapes!!!

This is the best thing i love about gardening: learning new dishes to cook with what you are planting!! Unfortunately, it's a bigger challenge than it should be because of the dreaded Mom Brain.

Last fall, i planted garlic for the first time after reading an article on how easy it was to grow. I planted both hard neck and soft neck varities, and once spring came, i learned what a scape was. It's a "bulb" that sprouts out of the hardneck varities that looks funny but tastes delightfully like young garlic (just like the leaves, should you choose to harvest those in the Fall.)

Our CSA turned me onto an article where i found a yummy recipe for Garlic Scape and Yukon Potato Soup. You can check out the recipe at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002351155&slug=garlic29&date=20050629

You can also find a few yummy looking recipes on sites like Dakota Garlic.

I haven't seen scapes yet in the stores (not even the health food stores), however i've heard you can find them at farmer's markets occasionally.