Garlic scapes are a special treat usually available for a quick moment each spring, and Ryan has been growing a bumper crop of garlic on his farm outside of Rickreall. So when I asked for some scapes to try my hand at a pickled scape relish I recently had at my favorite haunt in town—Old Salt—I shouldn’t have been surprised to find him at my door with two giant grocery bags full. Luckily it turned out every bit as crunchy and delicious as I was hoping.

Garlic scapes are a long, curly, robust flower shoot that the garlic bulb sends out. They need to be removed before blooming so the bulb doesn’t expend all its energy on the flower, and luckily for us the scape has a mild garlic flavor, resilient crunch, and a myriad of uses. This relish is simple and goes great with pork, sausages, polenta, or anything off the grill. Let us know what you try it with!

Pickled Garlic Scapes

Ingredients

1 pound garlic scapes diced into thin disks

1 white onion, minced

1 tablespoon dill seed

3 tablespoons yellow mustard seed

3 tablespoons brown mustard seed

1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar 

1/2 cup palm sugar (you can use regular sugar, but use a bit less as it is sweeter)

1 1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon pickling salt

1 thai chili (optional)

1) Dice scapes into thin disks. They’ve got a lot of crunch, so be prepared for the little disks to fly everywhere. Mince onion.

2) Add all ingredients to pot and simmer 5-10 minutes. (I did two different batches of different simmer times to see how the texture varied. I’ll report back here when I break into the next jar!)

3) Sterilize jars and lids. I removed the thai chili at this point, but you could give one jar an extra punch! Pack relish to 1/4″ below the lip of jars. You can add more vinegar or water to the mix if it’s too dry. You don’t want any air pockets in the jars. Make sure you keep the lip clean. Put lids on and put in canner for 5-10 minutes. Remove and let cool overnight, the cooling process should seal everything, make sure none of the lids still have a pop.

4) Let sit 3-4 days for the best flavor.