Garlic Scape Pesto

It’s garlic scape season and what better way to celebrate than to make a bit of Garlic Scape Pesto?

What the heck is a garlic scape?

It’s the curly stemmed flower of hard neck garlic that appears a few weeks before harvest time. The stem is cut off of the plant in order to allow it to focus its energy on sizing up its bulb instead of making a pretty flower.

You can often find them at Farmers’ Market in the late spring/early summer for a short time.

But what does one do with the scape once it’s cut off?

You can:

• Chop it up and sautee it
• Dehydrate it and grind it into a powder (it’s a much milder form of garlic powder)
• Make Garlic Scape Pesto

Here’s how I make Garlic Scape Pesto

Place into a blender or food processor

• 10 garlic scapes cut into 1/2 – 1 inch pieces (use more or less depending on how deeply you love garlic)
• 1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves (use more or less depending on how passionately you love basil)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Blend until smooth.

Then add 1/2 – 1 cup Parmesan Cheese and continue blending until the cheese if fully mixed in.

Next, add 1/2 cup pinon nuts, walnuts, or pecans and pulse until nuts are roughly chopped.

Enjoy on your favorite pasta, freshly baked bread, or on your very own home-cooked pizza!

But what if I have Scapes on hand but don’t want to eat Pesto right now?

No worries! All you have to do to enjoy the bounty of the season later is stop once you’ve blended the scapes, basil, salt, and oil.

Bag up your paste, label it, and freeze it for later. (This is what I do since we have so many scapes on hand at once.)

When you’re ready to complete the process, simply thaw out the frozen paste and pick up where you left off by adding in the cheese and nuts!

xoxo,
M