Pickled Garlic Scapes are another seasonal delicacy that you simply must try. If you grow hardneck garlic, and your plants are sending out flower heads with long stalks that curl back around on themselves, it’s time to harvest the scapes. In doing so, you’re encouraging your plants to put their energy into developing large, lovely heads of garlic underground. Homegrown garlic is wonderfully fresh and alive, but it’s not just about those heady cloves. The garlic scapes are something special, and you only get one harvest per year so you must make the most of them – grill a few of them, and preserve the rest.
I typically make Garlic Scape Pesto and freeze it in half-pint jars. I keep one jar open in the fridge and it disappears pretty quickly. Add a big spoonful to pasta sauces, soups, risottos, curries, and even scrambled eggs – a dollop of sunshine in the dead of winter.
Pickled Garlic Scapes are another way to conjure up the pungent freshness of summer throughout the dark days of winter. Open a jar and serve a couple of curly scapes alongside a charred and juicy steak or a pan-fried salmon fillet. Serve them as part of an alluring appetizer platter – meats, cheeses, and Pickled Garlic Scape stems. Use chopped scapes in lieu of garlic when a vinegar-y punch would work – buzzed into a sauce or a salad dressing. Once you taste them, you find no end to ways to used them. They make everything better.
When I pack the cleaned scapes into sterilized jars, I’m imagining all the ways that we’ll enjoy them throughout the year. This recipe makes 4 quarts of Pickled Garlic Scapes. I pack the straight part of the stems into one jar vertically, similar to asparagus. I stack tight coils of garlic scapes into two other jars for visual appeal, including the trimmed flower end. I cut the rest of the garlic scapes into 2-inch pieces and pack a forth jar. We’ll be pulling Pickled Garlic Scapes out of the pantry until it’s time to harvest them again next June.
We learned something new about harvesting scapes this year. Ron read somewhere that pulling the scapes out of the center of the plant is better than cutting them. In the past I would cut the scapes off at the first leaf. However, we’ve now learned that if you grip the plant below the 2nd or 3rd leaf and pull very, very gently, sometimes the scape pulls right out, revealing the most tender part of the stem. Sometimes it breaks off, but no matter – just peel aways the leaves and you’ll be good to go.
Pickled Garlic Scapes
Equipment
- 4 quart jars
- water bath canner and canning equipment (jar lifter, wide-mouth funnel, etc.)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds garlic scapes
- 4 t whole black peppercorns
- 4 t red pepper flakes
- 4 T sugar
- 4 T canning salt
- 5 cups apple cider vinegar
- 5 cups water
Instructions
- Prepare boiling water bath and four quart jars – Add the jars to the water and bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes to sterilize the jars, then pull them out.
- Pack the jars – Rinse the scapes and trim them according to your preference, then pack them into the jars. Add 1 T peppercorns and 1 T red pepper flakes (optional) to each jar.
- Make the brine and fill the jars – Combine vinegar, water, sugar, and pickling salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Slowly pour hot brine over the garlic scapes, leaving 1/2-inch headspace at the top of each jar. Once jars are full, tap jars lightly to dislodge any air bubbles. Check headspace again and add more brine if necessary.
- Process – Add the jars to the water bath, and process for 10 minutes once the water returns to a boil. Take off the heat and let rest for 5 minutes before removing the jars from the water. Let jars cool completely before labeling and stashing in your pantry. They'll be shelf-stable for at least a year.
Pickled Garlic Scapes are wonderful. But of course you don’t want to preserve all of your scapes, because they’re so delicious fresh. Whether or not you grow garlic, you can pick up some scapes at the farmer’s market. Toss them with some olive oil and throw them on a hot grill. Grilled garlic scapes are very similar to grilled asparagus, with a mildly sweet garlic flavor. That is unless you burn them – keep an eye on your scapes or they’ll turn bitter and unpalatable. Just ask Liz and Steve – they’ve witnessed it. 🙁