Cook Club: Scapes bring garlic flavor to summer

If I haven't mentioned it in this column before, my backyard is a jungle.

When I moved into my house in the dead of winter a few years ago, the yard looked serene, blanketed in snow. Then spring came, the snow melted, and the plants started growing. And growing, and growing.

Most notable was the raspberry patch taking over the back of the yard. If you know anything about raspberries, they spread easily — maintaining any sort of order means constant pulling of the new seedlings that shoot up each spring. It is a war, of sorts, as the berries attempt to colonize the grass and the gardener holds them back with judicious pulling and digging.

The woman I bought my house from was clearly uninterested in fighting that battle and let the plants run wild. It was over, the raspberries had won and claimed about one third of my backyard as their spoils.

So for the last three summers, I have slowly been reclaiming the yard, digging up raspberry canes weekend after weekend. That has meant finding unexpected garden treasures in the newly-cleared land. The second summer revealed a previously hidden asparagus patch, and this spring, I discovered a patch of garlic.

I'm not sure I would have known what the thick stalks that shot up this spring in territory recently reclaimed from the raspberries were, except for one beautiful giveaway: scapes.

These curling bright green tops, which include the flower bud of the garlic plant, are a trendy darling of food bloggers and farmers market vendors alike. This is for good reason — while garlic won't be ready to harvest until fall, the scapes pack the same flavorful punch. Snipping them off encourages the plant to put more energy into robust bulb growth, so harvesting them helps both the garlic and your kitchen.

Looking for ways to use my newfound bounty, I put out a call on social media. The response was immediate, and enthusiastic. Scapes preserved as pickles, sauteed in stir fries, baked into frittatas or pureed into pesto were all suggested.

Searching the internet turned up yet more scrumptious suggestions. This garlic scape hummus recipe, which I adapted from several cooking websites, substitutes white cannellini beans for chickpeas. Serve with pita, crackers, vegetables or spread on toast.

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GARLIC SCAPE HUMMUS

1 lemon, juiced

5 large garlic scapes, roughly chopped

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Combine lemon juice, scapes, 1 teaspoon paprika and beans in food processor and purée until smooth. Slowly add olive oil through top of food processor while slowly pulsing mixture — look for a creamy texture. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with other teaspoon paprika before serving.

l Comments: (319) 398-8434; alison.gowans@thegazette.com