Vegetable identification
Jul. 16th, 2006 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pallas_athenaYesterday I went to the little artisan-food-market thingy that happens here on Saturdays. I go there regularly enough that I have a handful of favourite vendors, some of whom also recognise me when I show up. In particular, I get on very well with a girl named Judith, who comes to sell fruit and vegetables from the farm where she works.
This week, when I bought a bag of tomatoes, a cucumber, some strawberries and a smaaaaalllll aubergine, Judith was nice enough to slip a handful of long green things into the bag for free. At the time, I thought they were runner beans. When I got home, I realised they weren't: they were curly, had sort of bulblike appendages on the end, and smelled sort of like chives. Due to the curl, I wore one as a bracelet for the rest of the evening. What were they, and how could I cook them?
I phoned my mother, but she was in a meeting. It wasn't until this morning that the mighty Internet yielded an answer: what I have are garlic scapes. That is, the stem and flower bud of the garlic plant, which growers take off so that the bulb will grow bigger. Its taste is mild, like the leaves of wild garlic, and looking at recipes online, a favourite use seems to be pesto.
The scapes are such a lovely shape, it seems a shame to chop them. But tonight they are destined for pesto, oh yes. I'll report back when I'm done.
This week, when I bought a bag of tomatoes, a cucumber, some strawberries and a smaaaaalllll aubergine, Judith was nice enough to slip a handful of long green things into the bag for free. At the time, I thought they were runner beans. When I got home, I realised they weren't: they were curly, had sort of bulblike appendages on the end, and smelled sort of like chives. Due to the curl, I wore one as a bracelet for the rest of the evening. What were they, and how could I cook them?
I phoned my mother, but she was in a meeting. It wasn't until this morning that the mighty Internet yielded an answer: what I have are garlic scapes. That is, the stem and flower bud of the garlic plant, which growers take off so that the bulb will grow bigger. Its taste is mild, like the leaves of wild garlic, and looking at recipes online, a favourite use seems to be pesto.
The scapes are such a lovely shape, it seems a shame to chop them. But tonight they are destined for pesto, oh yes. I'll report back when I'm done.