This year, we are making garlic scape pickles. (A new item.)
We've adapted the Dilly Beans recipe from the Ball Blue Book. We left out the garlic, and exchanged dill seed and dill fronds for the full dill heads, since dill is not currently in season. The pickles use the bottom inches of the scape, (one or two per scape), and we use the remaining curly end and flower for pesto.
Conveniently, four jars of pickle pieces leaves 8 oz. of scapes for the pesto recipe. Perfect. We are working diligently; but we are still looking for the bottom of the scape bag!
Added Note: For the inexperienced, scapes are the "flower" of the garlic plant. They look like green pigs tails as they emerge and curl around atop the plant. Letting them stay and straighten out to flower only takes away from the formation of the garlic bulb (what most people want). They provide a nice "second crop" if you grow stiff-neck garlic. And we all know farmers can use all the help we can get!
Dilly Beans are a popular, short time pickle that you usually make with green beans. Here, we are substituting pieces of the scapes. Then, the remaining scapes are used to make pesto (an Italian dreamy delicacy usually made with basil) that you can do a million yummy things with beyond just putting it on pasta...
Hopefully, this helps?
