Garlic Scapes

I have never seen or heard of garlic scapes before I arrived in Osoyoos.

Last year I purchased a jar of pickled garlic scapes from Garlic Freak , at the  Osoyoos Farmer's Market.

  This morning I when I was at the Osoyoos Farmer's Market I purchased some.

I went on line to find out more.  https://www.thespruce.com/what-are-garlic-scapes-1402603

Garlic scapes are the flower bud of the garlic plant. The bud is removed in late June to encourage the bulbs to thicken up. Scapes make a fabulous addition to a flower bouquet, and they are delicious to eat! Scapes taste just like garlic. They can be used in exactly the same way as garlic in any recipe.  

By harvesting when young and tender, they can chop them into salads or use them as a topping, as scallions. More mature scapes can be sauteed lightly and used over pasta, with eggs, mixed with cooking greens, pickled or pretty much in any dish that would be complemented by garlic. 

Garlic Scape Pesto. 

         10 to 12 large garlic scapes, with the bulb removed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

         1 cup (lightly packed) clean and dry basil leaves (optional) 

         1/2 cup pine nuts or walnuts

         1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

         1/2 to 1 cup (or more depending on how thick you want your pesto) of good quality olive oil

           1/2 to 1 cup of grated Parmesan Cheese

Method: 

Add garlic scapes, basil and salt to the large bowl of a food processor. Start processing, adding oil slowly. Stop processing and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Once a smooth paste has been achieved, add Parmesan and process until completely mixed in. Stop processing and add all of the nuts. Pulse processor until nuts are roughly chopped and fully mixed in. This gives the pesto a great texture.