BARRIE MURDOCK

But chopped up in a blender with olive oil and a herb like basil, scapes make a perfect pesto for pasta.

Tasty 'pigtails' are a bonus

Garlic scapes Allium sativum

Scope out scapes. They're on sale at some farmers' markets right now and look peculiar. But chopped up in a blender with olive oil and a herb like basil, they make a perfect pesto for pasta.

For a more dependable source, grow your own. Garlic is surprisingly easy –and these twirly bits, called scapes, are a bonus. They curl upward from the centre of the plant in late springtime, becoming the tall stalks that carry new seeds.

Farmers used to cut scapes off and feed them to livestock (if left on the plants, scapes stop nice fat garlic bulbs developing in the soil) but then foodies started saying, "Whoa, your discards taste delicious." And they sure do.

The flavour is similar to regular garlic, only milder. I like to grind mine into a pesto. They also work well instead of regular garlic in any cooked dish.

However, it's important to get the snippers out smartly, when scapes are young and curled, not straightened up. Once the bulgy pale green part (which contains the seeds) becomes fat and hard, they turn bitter.

So if you don't have any "pigtails" in your garden now, you'll have to wait until next year to harvest some. In Canada, garlic must be planted in fall. This sounds tedious but is, in fact, dead easy. Details to come in a fall column.

soniaday.com