Shot Glass Gardening

The window of time to purchase garlic scapes at your farmer’s market may not be QUITE as narrow as the eye of a needle that Biblical camel is trying to wedge his hump thru…

But it sure ain’t no damn tomato season, either.

I can get them in NYC for about a month in the spring.

Scapes are the greens that shoot out of a garlic bulb.  Farmers used to just chop them off and throw them away so the bulbs would get bigger----till some adventurous eater gave them a whirl.

And then the foodies started waxing poetic…

Nowadays, top chefs ALWAYS have them on their menu when they’re in season.  It’s their way of saying, “I’m connected to the markets and I know what’s out there right now.  Look what I can do, mom!  Mom!  Mom!  Look, Mom!  Look!  Mom!  Mom!”

Scapes are really just sprouts harvested at different times. 

And despite the fact that I live in a NYC apartment with lousy light…  It STILL doesn’t keep the garlic in my dark and foreboding garlic keeper from eventually outgrowing its Emo phase and wanting to experience the joy of life again.

You may have lost a bulb---but you gained a sprout.

Or immature garlic scape.

And it’s delicious.

I hear that Alice Waters religiously cuts that green center out----likely with an expensive Japanese paring knife—and swears the remaining garlic is milder, but still good.

Yappers online claim that sprouted garlic is “bitter” and occasionally I read the word “poisonous”.

But most chefs just chop it up and add it into the dish and you’ve probably eaten it a thousand times and never known the difference.

So----what’s the scoop?

Well, it’s not poisonous.  You’re thinking of potato sprouts.  Those ARE poisonous.  And that’s a whole other post.

If your garlic sprouts, it’s called “a shoot”.

Those pricey garlic scapes are really just a shoot that grew bigger and got all curly and sexy-looking.

Garlic shoots are milder than garlic.  Think onions versus scallions.  A whole different animal. 

So when life starts happening in my kitchen, I don’t throw the unwed mother out into the cold. 

I plop her in a shot glass! 

Disclaimer:  I have NO idea how I got that glass.  I haven’t had a shot of Jägermeister since college.

But I hang onto it because when a garlic bulb starts to sprout, it’s the perfect size.

You get greener pesto!  Delicate vinaigrette!  And an aioli so precious that you could have the best damn BLT of your life.

I tend to let them grow a few inches before I harvest them.

It’s also a nice bit of something green growing in your kitchen!

In about a week or so, you’ll have “micro-green” garlic scapes.  You can toss it in a stir fry, raw in a salad, or even pickle it in with your kosher dills.

Your garlic isn’t dead.  As Dr. Frankenstein declared, “It’s alive!  It’s alive!!!”