Garlic scapes are the tender stem and flower bud of a hardneck garlic plant. Scapes first grow straight out of the garlic bulb, then coil.
Garlic is one of the few plants with two harvests: garlic scapes are harvested in the late spring and early summer, and then the bulbs are harvested later in the summer. Harvesting the scapes is an integral part of garlic farming—if the scapes aren’t cut off, the plant expends its energy trying to grow its stem and flower, leaving the bulb small and flavourless.
Use scapes for making pesto, pickle the scapes, or finely chop and sautee. Anything you use garlic for, you can substitute the scape for an early summer garlic flavour!