# Cooking Garlic Scape



## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

My neighbour keeps offering me these. I have no idea what to do with them, perhaps P/A or others know how to prepare?

I do always take and use the garlic however!


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

Dilbert said:


> My neighbour keeps offering me these. I have no idea what to do with them, perhaps P/A or others know how to prepare?
> 
> I do always take and use the garlic however!



I love garlic scapes. If fresh that have texture and crunch similar to a long bean or green bean with a more mild garlic flavour They can be chopped up and used similar to a green onion. I do this if I get a small amount. However, if I get a large amount that I can make a meal, I cut them up like grease beans, and sauté in hot pan with oil, salt and pepper. If I am feeling like a whole meal in a pan, I will sauté then add tofu and either a chilli sauce or a black bean sauce.

I used to get them in my farmer coop share, but he stopped supplying. Now I find it difficult to find unless I got to an ethnic grocer. You a lucky guy. I miss my garlic scapes.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

Thanks P/A, most interesting. I’ll have to give them a try.:subdued:

When you say chilli sauce, do mean the stuff Heinz puts in a jar?


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

Dilbert said:


> Thanks P/A, most interesting. I’ll have to give them a try.:subdued:
> 
> When you say chilli sauce, do mean the stuff Heinz puts in a jar?


Oh no I forgot they made that stuff I used a Chinese chilli but I don’t really follow recipes. I will see if find something on line later.

Another easy recipes is to brown some minced pork, the. sauté the garlic scapes add some diced onion, and make a stir fry sauce with ginger, soy, flour, seed oil. It’s like a little gravy over the garlic scapes. I treat my scapes like green beans that go well with Asian flavours.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

Plugging Along said:


> I love garlic scapes. *If fresh that have texture and crunch similar to a long bean or green bean with a more mild garlic flavour They can be chopped up and used similar to a green onion.* I do this if I get a small amount. However, if I get a large amount that I can make a meal, I cut them up like grease beans, and sauté in hot pan with oil, salt and pepper. If I am feeling like a whole meal in a pan, I will sauté then add tofu and either a chilli sauce or a black bean sauce.
> 
> I used to get them in my farmer coop share, but he stopped supplying. Now I find it difficult to find unless I got to an ethnic grocer. *You a lucky guy. * I miss my garlic scapes.


 ... +1. Stir-frying them as a meal is most popular. Other methods (maybe easier):

https://justplaincooking.ca/how-to-cook-garlic-scapes/

*HOW TO COOK GARLIC SCAPES*
Here are 3 (from four ways) to cook garlic scapes. You can either cook them whole or cut them just before the white seed head. 

_*Steamed* – You will likely need to cut the scapes in half or thirds so they fit in your steamer. Just steam them over water in a steamer basket for about 5 minutes. If you like them softer instead of crunchy, just steam them for a few minutes longer.

*Grilled *– Lightly steam them for about 4 minutes and then lay them on your grill. Brush them with sesame oil and then place on the grill. You can lay them on foil if you like, but you don’t have to.

Grill them for about 3 minutes, then flip them over, brush with a bit of oil and grill for another 3 minutes. Along with grilled steaks and a nice salad, this makes for a wonderful summer meal.

*Pickled* – This method takes more time of course, but is a great way to enjoy scapes all winter long. I like to cut the scapes in uniform lengths so they fill the jar, like a pickled bean would. Some people just chop the scapes into pieces and toss all sizes into the jar before pickling. Here’s a recipe for Pickled Garlic Scapes._



Interestingly, you can even use them for making Pesto! 

https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2016/07/garlic-scape-pesto-recipe.html


Yummies! Enjoy!


PS: If you get an abundance, I think you can freeze them as well. I'll leave this method for you to google.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

I have done the pesto with some of the left over scapes (I didn't have enough for a meal). It was good, but I like other pestos better.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Dilbert said:


> My neighbour keeps offering me these. I have no idea what to do with them, perhaps P/A or others know how to prepare?
> 
> I do always take and use the garlic however!




you are indeed a lucky guy

i was going to ask What else does your Neighbour grow? but then i realized that you probably have the same soil & a similar terrain with respect to size & sunlight/shade.

Dil can we make a gardener out of you? your neighbour would probably be glad to coach. The 2 of you could have a little backyard urban farm going.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

Sounds like too much work, H/P!:tongue:


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Plug & Dil if you guys are interested in asian cuisine, what do you think of fresh ginger as an ingredient?

i recently bought a kilo of the freshest, best ginger roots i've ever seen in my entire life. Large plump roots w tender flesh, they even drip juice when you peel. From the small greek supermarket chain with its expert links to so many innovative local farmers.

somebody around here has to be growing ginger plants on a small commercial scale. Either quebec or eastern ontario (the greeks' watershed zone for fine produce). There's no way these fat, juicy ginger roots could have been imported from china, they have nothing in common with the semi-dried up small ginger root portions we find in stores during the winter.

next i discovered from the internet that fresh ginger root is easy to grow. It's a rhizome. Apparently spreads easily in shallow soil, likes partial sunlight as from a northern windowsill. Evidently a growing plant will send up green stems or "scapes," which are delicious in cooking in their own right.

can't wait to try grow-your-own ginger. Dilbert this isn't work, you'd just stick a ginger cutting that has "eyes" in a flowerpot.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

HP. I personally don’t love the taste of ginger, but my kids do, and we cook Asian all the time. I do use ginger quite frequently. My parents usedto try and grow ginger with no luck in our climate.


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## Dilbert (Nov 20, 2016)

Sounds nice H/P. Maybe I’ll pick some up when I come down Thanksgiving weekend!
I’m not much of a chef though. I wish P/A lived closer and gave lessons......


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Plugging Along said:


> My aren’t usd to try and grow ginger with no luck in our climate.



what i read was, ginger has to grow inside in our climate. Is why i thought northern windowsill. it's a root so does not need direct sun.

a local fresh ginger farmer would be growing on in a shed or shaded greenhouse w low light imho.

i have a vivid memory of going for supper at a tiny chinese resto on vancouver's lower east side when i was an undergrad at UBC.

there was no menu. They spoke no english. You'd sit down at one of only 3 little tables, all steps away from the kitchen. Without a word, dish after amazing dish would start arriving to the table. Some were recognizable fish or veggz, others were unknown multi-coloured morsels that tasted delicious.

finally at the end of the meal, a small paper bill in chinese. Embellished by 3 figures that everyone could understand. A dollar sign followed by a pair of arabic numbers. Prices unbelievably low even for the times. Dinner for 3 might be $28.

it was unforgettable. Only in vancouver. I don't think any other canadian city ever had such an authentic chinese resto.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

Dilbert said:


> Sounds nice H/P. Maybe I’ll pick some up when I come down Thanksgiving weekend!
> I’m not much of a chef though. I wish P/A lived closer and gave lessons......


I am not much of a chef either. If you ask close friends of ours, when I first moved out, my cooking skills were a DISASTER. I have food poisoned many of the my close friends (hence why I consider them close). There was no internet then, and googling ingredients and recipes. My friends would eat before they came and push the around the food to pretend for years that they would eat it. I actually worried at one point how I could possible feed children and that was one of my hesitations for having kids (poisoning them or malnutrition)

What has allowed me to be a pretty decent cook is my desire to eat different foods, a sense of adventure, and not being afraid to try things. Thank goodness for the internet, such a wealth of information. I randomly pick up unknown food items with no idea of what to do with them. I then look them up and give them a try. So much better than when I better than when I ate rare expensive fruit raw expecting some exotic juicy, sweet, tropical fruit, only to get a bitter, awful taste with a weird texture. To save this expensive fruit, I finally ended frying it in butter and sugar with lemon juice to make it edible. Years later, my friend and I found it again, and now able to google it, found it to be not a fruit but some sort of vegetable that should have been braised. 

My point is, it's never too late to learn. I learned my fundamentals through trial and error and then through the internet. From there, I understand the basic techniques and can figure out how to 'fix' things. I have to 'fix' a lot of my cooking cause I don't like following recipes. I keep my ipad in my kitchen with my headset now, so I can google hacks when I screw up. 

I could give Thanksgiven lessons, I can put out a turkey fire in 3 different ways. Two of them, you can still eat the turkey.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

humble_pie said:


> what i read was, ginger has to grow inside in our climate. Is why i thought northern windowsill. it's a root so does not need direct sun.
> 
> a local fresh ginger farmer would be growing on in a shed or shaded greenhouse w low light imho.
> 
> ...


Sorry for the incoherence, I blame fat fingers on a touch device. Yes, I meant my parents tried for years to cultivate ginger, but no matter what window it never worked.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Plugging Along said:


> Yes, I meant my parents tried for years to cultivate ginger, but no matter what window it never worked.



i have a green thumb so i'm hopeful

growth of the rhizome must depend on whether the "eye" that gets planted with the rhizome part is still alive

given how dried-up other so-called "fresh" ginger i've seen that's imported from asia is (some of those ships are at sea for 3 months), it's entirely possible that such cuttings could & would fail

anyhow we'll see

meanwhile i've asked the vegetable guy to find out from his manager who in turn will ask the store buyers, if it's locally grown ginger. If it is, i'll be able to find the farmer's website or insta or twitter account - all the farmers have these because that's how they sell - & eventually i'll be able to get the low-down & the nitty gritty about how to grow your own ginger roots.

ps another thing they're growing here like crazy are daikon radishes. Also mustard greens, of course bok choy & chinese cabbge. A little fish some rice & your dinner is good to go.


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