Cutting gourmet garlic scapes now helps grow bigger cloves

Our garlic is entering into a new stage of growth. This is the time of year when hard neck garlic, also called stiff neck, sends up  flower stalk-like structures called  garlic scapes. Each garlic plant produces only one scape. Soft neck varieties do not form scapes at all.

Garlic does not produce flowers on the end of its scape, instead tiny garlic bulbs called bulbils are formed. Since they are not the result of pollination of flowers, the bulbils are exact copies of the parent plant.  On some varieties of garlic the bulbils can be as small as the size of an apple seed, on other varieties they are much larger.  

You can use bulbils to grow full sized garlic plants, I’ve done it in the past treating them just like planting seeds but it takes a few years of growing in order to reach full size. Most gardeners simply used full size cloves to plant their garlic. They either save their own cloves or purchase new ones every year. 

We purchased our original garlic cloves for planting from Jung Seed several years ago and have been saving them from year to year since then.

It's best to remove scapes soon after they form or about the time they start to curl.  If scapes are left to grow, a garlic plant will divide its energy between producing aerial bulbils and underground bulbs resulting in noticeably smaller cloves.  

Scapes are easily snapped off when they're young. As they get a few days older, they tend to become tougher and will need to be snipped off with a pair of scissors or fine garden pruners. 

Garlic scapes are edible and have the same garlic flavor as garlic cloves, only a little bit milder.

Many people consider them a delicacy. They keep well in the refrigerator for a few weeks after cutting.

Scapes may be used in any recipe that calls for garlic. I usually cut them into short pieces and sautee them or chop them up to use in omelets.  Many people make a type of garlic pesto from them.  There are many garlic scape recipes online.  

A good-sized garlic patch produces a large number of garlic scapes. Refrigerate some for immediate use, the rest can be frozen and used later making it an easy way to extend the enjoyment you get from your garden.