The scape is the stalk of the garlic plant, the part between the bulb, which we’re all familiar with, and the flower. They’re a beautiful bright green; sort of like scallions in color. They have a mellower garlic flavor than the bulb itself, with a nice little spicy bite. They’re fantastic in just about anything but I tossed them with spaghetti and sun dried tomatoes, lemon and roasted corn and WOW a great garlic flavor without garlic breathe!

Try these two recipes:

LEMON SCENTED PASTA WITH GARLIC SCAPES AND VEGGIES
 (Serves 2 as a main course or four as a side dish)

1/3 box of spaghetti
5 or 6 garlic scapes sliced thinly
6 Sun dried tomato halves sliced thinly
¾ cup fresh corn
½ cup flat leaf parsley
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
1 cup chicken stock

Preparation: 
Cook the spaghetti till al dente and set aside.

Sauté scapes and tomatoes till fragrant then add the corn, parsley, lemon zest and lemon juice and simmer lightly.

Turn the heat up a bit; add the chicken stock and pasta and toss everything to coat and until the sauce is slightly thickened.

Serve garnished with additional parsley.

GARLIC SCAPE PESTO smooth and flavorful, but in a subtle, garlicky-lemony way.

The recipe is simple:
• 6-7 garlic scapes, chopped
• approx. 1 c. olive oil
• 1 c. grated parmesan or asiago cheese* (The latter tastes best.)

Preparation: 
We used a mini-chopper to combine the scapes and olive oil, which turned a brilliant, if watery-looking, green. We blended this by hand with the fresh-grated (hard) mozzarella and poured it over angel-hair pasta, which we then garnished with toasted pine nuts, olives, and fresh tomatoes.

Garlic scape pesto also freezes well.