Garlic scapes! Garlic scapes! Garlic scapes!

DON'T FORGET TO GET YOUR SLOW FOOD WHIDBEY TICKETS!  Today is the last day to pick up tickets for this great event coming up tomorrow, Sunday June 5th.  A great selection of Whidbey chefs paired with Whidbey farms cooking up a fabulous selection of "tastings" of the best of Whidbey.  Local beer and wine tasting as well!  $30 a person.  We will tickets available for sale at our booths at the Bayview and Coupeville farmer's markets...

And now back to our scheduled topic...
Garlic Scapes!

So, why do we love you, oh garlic scapes?  Let me list the ways:
1.  Because you taste like garlic!
2.  Because you go so well with abundance of greens, greens and more greens which mostly dominate our spring veggie selection and while we love our greens, it's also nice to have something that is not leaf-like.
3.  Because you are great to barbeque!
4.  Because you are a silly, funny shape that we like to wear as jewelry on our wrists and hang from our earlobes (okay, that is a bit dopey.  But hey, when you work in a veggie field all day things can get a bit goofy).
5. Because you are good raw (chopped in salads!), good pureed (garlic scape pesto!), good barbequed, good braised, good pickled!!!

Great teething ring for babies too!

6.  Because the arrival of garlic scapes means soon...garlic!
Really, as far as veggies go there isn't anything NOT to love about garlic scapes.  I suppose, if you aren't fond of garlic perhaps...but really, if you aren't fond of garlic seriously WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?  (Just kidding, mostly...).

In China, my brother (who has spent lots of time living over there, enough to marry a lovely Chinese girl!) says that garlic scapes are considered a seasonal specialty and are one of the few veggies that, relatively speaking, are almost "expensive" in Chinese markets.  That's because the Chinese realize what most American's are just starting to figure out - not only are garlic scapes super-awesome, but...they only get them once a year.  One hard-necked garlic plant makes just one precious garlic scape, and it takes about a year to grow garlic so...get the scapes while they can!

Farmer Georgie, taking a "Scape Break" (notice the dirty fingers...)

Luckily, we grow a nice range of early and later-maturing garlic plants. so our season is as extended as possible on them.  We start picking them in late May (we had a few last weekend) and then we will usually be finished picking them by the first of July.  The other nice thing about garlic scapes is they are one of those veggies (like cabbage) which will store in great shape in your fridge for weeks.  So if you don't eat them right away - don't worry, you've got plenty of time.
We do try and pickle up a batch of them every year because there is nothing as cool as having a winter Anti-pasto plate with a curly, tasty garlic scape on it!  (Or, my husband is rather fond of Bloody Mary's with a pickled garlic scape stirrer!).
 So...hope to see you today at the farmer's markets and we will show you some of our lovely, wonderful, precious garlic scapes!
 Along with scapes, we will be bringing to market today:
From Willowood Farm:
* Garlic Scapes
* Garlic Greens (immature garlic plants, like scallions only garlicky)
* Head Lettuce
* Arugula
* Radishes
* Dry Beans
* Kale
From Prairie Bottom Farm:
* Red Spinach
* Green Spinach
* Herbs
* Stir-fry mix
* Lettuce Mix
From Ebey Road Farm:
* Emmer
Hope to see you at market!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm