long green garlic

Fed plaza farmers market had long stalks of green garlic. they looked and smelled good. I am embarassed to say I have never used the item. Do I use it just like regular semi dried? Do i use the stalks like green onion stalks? Any help would be appreciated.

Babaluch

Are you talking scapes(those otherworldly serpentine stalks ending in a bud) or green garlic(which can look much like the greens of spring onions)?

If scapes:

I thinly slice them on the bias(usually discarding the bud, but not always...sometimes that gets chopped up too) and sautee them in butter and s/p...eat as is...or sprinkle across a pizza

if the greens:

I imagine you can use them in place of scallions for a mild hint of garlic.

Alternatively, I've found scapes can have a terrific, sharp garlic kick.

The Daley Plaza market has the green garlic that looks like green onion - not scapes. I bought them last week and found that the small garlic bulbs had a nice, albeit too mild for my taste, garlic flavor. I found the greens themselves utterly flavorless, with an unpleasant plastic-like texture.

Kennyz wrote:The Daley Plaza market has the green garlic that looks like green onion - not scapes. I bought them last week and found that the small garlic bulbs had a nice, albeit too mild for my taste, garlic flavor. I found the greens themselves utterly flavorless, with an unpleasant plastic-like texture.

ahhh...

as I haven't hit up the markets yet...[except for a lackluster experience the mid-morning of Green City's Lincoln Park opening day...everyone out of everything basically by 10:00 AM!...I picked up some eh-tasting spring onions from Nichols, but went home emptyhanded as per Bennison's(my reason for going) being completely out of stock!]...I wasn't sure about scapes availability vs. green garlic...

yesterday the s/o brought home some assorted leafy, bulby green things that I need to breakdown today sometime

anyhow...is it scapes season yet?

I bought the same thing....along with fingerling potatoe and beautifully thick green and purple asparagus...along with a garlic-cheese spread.

I sliced the green garlic thinly on the bias as you would scallions along with a few stalks of asparagus. I sauteed both in olive oil. Meanwhile, I cut the fingerlings into bite sizes, boiled them in salted water. I then added the potatoes to the garlic and asparagus. I mixed 6 eggs with milk and some of the garlic cheese spread, poured over the veggies let it set up a bit, then finished it off in the oven.

Ta da! Farmer's Market Fritatta. Even better eaten the next day, cold.

I just received a lovely book, "The Bountiful Container" by McGee and Stuckey. It's all about container gardening edibles. They list green garlic as one of their favorite items.

They say you can eat the whole plant - stem, leaves, and any small bulb (but not the roots). They say is goes well in soups, casseroles, stir-fry, sauteed greens, salsa, pesto - or anything else that is complemented by regular garlic.

I was thinking of growing it next year on my deck (along with too many other things. . .)

Christopher Gordon wrote:anyhow...is it scapes season yet?

I have two varieties of hard neck garlic growing and, so far, no scapes. But MAN are the greens tall. Now that I'm seeing green garlic in the markets, I am going to pull a couple where there are two stems growing too closely together--in hopes of getting full sized heads on the remainders. And I am very much looking forward to enjoying the culled green garlic.

Kristen

kl5 wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:anyhow...is it scapes season yet?

I have two varieties of hard neck garlic growing and, so far, no scapes.

Saturday, June 2nd, scapes appeared!

Kristen

kl5 wrote:

kl5 wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:anyhow...is it scapes season yet?

I have two varieties of hard neck garlic growing and, so far, no scapes.

Saturday, June 2nd, scapes appeared!

Kristen

Dang!

I walked over to "my" farmer's market (Dearborn/Division) and the only stand selling green garlic, Nichol's, had snipped off the scapes!!! leaving only the leafy stalks.

I know later in the season purveyors will offer scapes by the ton...sigh...

---about Nichol's---

I appreciate the wide variety of produce they offer, but, man...year after year their workers are some of the most irascible I've had the displeasure doing business with...

contrast their attitude with the welcoming of the herb girls or the cheese ladies...I've developed a nodding aquaintence with them over the years...spent the same time shopping at Nichol's...buying from the same workers(and the odd new guy) and there still remains this pervasive un-friendliness...

Christopher Gordon wrote:---about Nichol's---

I appreciate the wide variety of produce they offer, but, man...year after year their workers are some of the most irascible I've had the displeasure doing business with...

contrast their attitude with the welcoming of the herb girls or the cheese ladies...I've developed a nodding aquaintence with them over the years...spent the same time shopping at Nichol's...buying from the same workers(and the odd new guy) and there still remains this pervasive un-friendliness...

Hmmm - maybe it's just that market, the folks from Nichol's I've bought from at Evanston and Wicker Park markets have always been perfectly friendly - in fact at Evanston, they have helped me not buy inefficiently (buying one of these, when it's a much better deal if you get 2, etc)

leek wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:---about Nichol's---

I appreciate the wide variety of produce they offer, but, man...year after year their workers are some of the most irascible I've had the displeasure doing business with...

contrast their attitude with the welcoming of the herb girls or the cheese ladies...I've developed a nodding aquaintence with them over the years...spent the same time shopping at Nichol's...buying from the same workers(and the odd new guy) and there still remains this pervasive un-friendliness...

Hmmm - maybe it's just that market, the folks from Nichol's I've bought from at Evanston and Wicker Park markets have always been perfectly friendly - in fact at Evanston, they have helped me not buy inefficiently (buying one of these, when it's a much better deal if you get 2, etc)

It certainly could be an attitude fostered specifically at the Dearborn/Division market. I overheard one "oldtimer" worker explaining to a newbie(who, btw, overcharged me for those scapeless garlic bulbs *after* being politely, convivially corrected twice as to the amount I was buying---um, 1 bunch---and the posted price per bunch...and apparently not giving a sh*t in the slightest) that this is "where the super rich meet the super poor." Being neither of those I wonder if they cultivate an immediate misapprehension and mistrust of the locals.

I picked up some garlic scapes this week at the Federal Plaza Farmer's Market, along with my favorite purple bulb onions (among other things):



Never having cooked with scapes before, I went for a simple quick sautee with purple and green onions. The sautee was used to top some grilled skirt steak along side roasted radishes and a green salad. A really nice farmer's market dinner:



The scapes have a stronger flavor than I expected when raw, but after met with a few seconds of hot olive oil, they mellow and sweeten nicely.

Best,
Michael