Garlic Scapes — Ideas Needed

This pointy, off-white thingy is a garlic scape. Left to its own devices, it will flower. Once removed, it forces the bulb to grow bigger and drives chefs mad. Apparently, these puppies are a hot commodity.

I had no idea what a scape was when I planted garlic near my climbing rose a couple of years ago. I didn’t plan on harvesting the garlic. I just wanted to see if roses really do love garlic like all the companion planting books tell me.

For ten years the rose bush made half-hearted attempts at a display. A few blooms, a few inches of growth, but nothing spectacular. The year after I planted a few garlic bulbs at its base, the former reluctant climber sprung to life. Perhaps it was the loss of the two giant maples that shaded the yard? Perhaps it was the abundant rain? Or maybe it was the garlic? I’m not sure, but right now I’ve got some lovely red climbing roses, a handful of scapes and no clue what to do with them beyond pesto.

According to all my research scapes are true garlic puppies. They have all the characteristics of fully mature garlic but lack the bite. Normally I experiment with a new ingredient, but I don’t have much to play with — eight scapes to be precise. See, this is the whole shebang.

So, what do you do with them? Chop them up? Saute them? Eat them raw? If you’ve got scape solutions, I’m listening!