Garlic scapes start out tender, but get tougher as they mature, and they have a more tender-crisp texture than soft green garlic. In terms of flavor, garlic scapes are stronger in flavor than green garlic, but still taste like garlic with a fresher, more vegetal flavor.

If you don’t cut your scapes and leave them on the plant, the bulbils turn into flowers and seeds. Even if you don’t intend to eat your garlic scapes, it’s still a good idea to snip them at the base of their stalk so that all the energy can go back into growing the bulb underground.

What part of garlic scapes do you eat? The entire garlic scape is edible and you can use the whole scape in pestos and other purees. However, the area from the bulb (where it bulges out) to the skinny tip can be rather tough and stringy, so I discard that portion. (Taste it for yourself and decide if you like it!)

Garlic scapes are the first tender green shoots on garlic which will become bulbils. They are edible when young and add a delicate garlic flavor to salads, soups and sauces. You can use them just as you would use chives.

The sprout in the center of a garlic clove is called the germ. When garlic is young, the germ is pale, small, and tender. As the garlic ages, the germ turns green, grows larger, and develops an unpleasantly bitter quality.

While it’s not recommended to let them flower if you want good, robust bulbs, the presence of the garlic scape itself doesn’t seem to slow bulb development. A better option is to cut off the garlic scape when it begins to curl and eat it!

Counting from the date in which most of the scapes are cut, the bulbs will be ready to dig about 20 days later, give or take a few days for weather variables. Most fully grown garlic plants have 7 to 9 leaves.

When the lower two or three leaves turn yellow or brown, bulbs are ready to harvest. If you wait too long beyond this point, your bulbs won’t have as many protective layers around cloves, which means they won’t store well. At the same time, the remaining leaves will probably be showing yellow or brown tips.

4 – 6 scapes
Scapes can be pickled, or made into pesto. Scapes taste just like garlic and can be substituted in just about any recipe that calls for garlic or green onions such as soups, stews, omelets, dips, rubs, etc. In terms of flavour, 4 – 6 scapes equals the flavour of 1 clove.

Green garlic
Green garlic (also called spring garlic or baby garlic) is simply a young, immature garlic bulb that hasn’t yet divided.

Taste-wise, garlic scapes are garlicky but with a fresh “green” taste. They can be used in any dish where one usually uses garlic but would like a garlic flavor with less bite than garlic cloves. Garlic scapes work well chopped and added raw to salads, salsas, dips, guacamole, marinades, pesto, bean dip,…

Substitute for Garlic scapes. If you don’t have garlic scapes you can substitute: Half the amount of minced garlic. So for example; if your recipe calls for 1 tablespoon minced garlic scapes, use about 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic instead. OR – Substitute equal amounts of green garlic.

Your best bet: Green garlic. Garlic scapes the garlic plant’s stalks. They grow late in the season and are the stalks…

Garlic scapes are the flower that the garlic plant will produce in the late spring. It is necessary to pinch off or “Pop” the garlic scape in order for the energy of the garlic plant to be directed to bulb development instead of a beautiful flower or garlic bulbil.