Mystery farm stand purchase....help me identify it?!
I just brought something home from a farm stand...it was near a sign that said garlic scapes. I thought "garlic scapes, sounds great - I can check chowhound for ideas!" As I was reading the posts, it became apparent to me that the tender, curling scapes are NOT what I have. So, I'm going to try and describe what I DO have, and any help with identification and or cooking ideas would be very much appreciated!
These are straight, sturdy, cylindrical stalks about 1/4" to 1/2" in diameter. They are all around a foot tall, give or take, and towards the top they form a sort of bulb, and on top of the bulb they end up with like a little dunce cap coming to a point. The bulb-like area IS shaped like a garlic bulb in miniature, and when I broke one open, there are a bunch of little buds in there - like this thing might flower. I tasted the stalk, and it seemed more oniony than garlicky, and it was very VERY strong.
Any ideas? My camera is on the fritz or I would post a pic....thanks in advance for any thoughts!
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What about this? It sounds like what you have with the red tint as well. They are spring garlic shoots.
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I just wanted to report back - I'm still not 100% sure, but this is funny. Two weeks after I worked with these, my husband went to the farm stand - he called me and asked if I would want something called "red garlic." Sure thing, I said! When he came home, he handed over shallots. So, I thought maybe my farmers are confused...sure enough, next week they had shallots on the table - nothing called red garlic. I'm getting that garlic, green garlic, elephant garlic, shallots, onions, spring onions and leeks all have certain qualities in common, so I will keep looking for curly scapes (probably next year) and enjoy the tasty treats I have access to!
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re: saticoy
Curly garlic scapes ONLY grow on hard neck garlic varieties....these kind grow up, eventually, with a tough, woody central stem that sticks out of all the garlic bulbs. Soft neck garlic--the kind you can see braided into ropes--doesn't have this central, hard core--and keeps longer, by the way--but you just don't get those wonderful, curly scapes.
My scapes are coming up and starting to curl right now, and I live in northern Iowa, if that gives you any idea of what you may be getting.
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hannaone
Apr 24, 2010 01:12 AM
They could be garlic stems.
http://www.ethicurean.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/green-garlic.jpg -
TheHuntress
Apr 23, 2010 08:44 PM
Sounds like garlic shoots to me. Well what we would call garlic shoots in Australia. I used them in a Thai chow mein style dish and they were fantastic.
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Thanks guys! Yeah, the thing is, the farmstand is open for another hour, and they usually don't answer their phone when they are manning the stand. I googled leek plants and it wasn't it.
I really don't think this is a garlic scape - the bulb is much bigger than any of the images I found, and it is green with a reddish tint - most scapes I'm seeing are green and whitish, and the stalk continues curling out of the bulb don't end right away in a point.
CocoaNut, I think you nailed it! Thanks for the link...when I poked around the other images there is one from a Russian farm of plants still in the field and with their poker straight, non-layered stems and that funny little duncecap on top of the bulb part I think I have some shallot stalks!
Now....what to do...what to cook....
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How about a shallot? Googling "shallot plant" and then selecting images, I found this: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgur...
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