Garlic Scapes

I think Garlic is absolutely amazing and I pretty much use it in everything that I cook. Now that we are at the end of June, I've cut the Scapes off my Garlic. What are Garlic Scapes? They are the central stalk which goes straight up and usually makes one or two loops. If they are not harvested, they will flower. When they flower, it pulls the nutrients from the garlic bulb and shrinks it. Since I'd like the bulbs to grow as large as possible, I cut off the Scapes.

In the fall I planned 7 cloves but only 4 made it through the winter. This is my 3rd or 4th year with this line of Garlic. The Garlic bulbs have to be planned deep enough to avoid the froze / thaw cycle that can damage them. As you can see in the picture below, the one on the left is doing really well and the one on the right looks really small. It could be a combination of the depth and that I recently expanded the garden a little bit so the soil over there might not be as good.

Here's a close up of the good looking one. The Scapes have already been cut off and come July I will stop watering these completely so the bulbs can mature. Then sometime between the end of July and mid August, I'll harvest the bulbs and have my fresh Ontario Garlic!

Now... I just need to figure out what to make with the Garlic Scapes. I could use them as seasoning, I could do a pesto or maybe I'll look up some other ideas for things that I can do with them :)