Freezing Garlic Scapes

Freezing garlic scapes is very easy and a great way to preserve the scapes. They last for months in the freezer and are very easy to use.

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Garlic scapes is that special bonus crop that ends up being the highlight of the garlic growing journey! We harvest scapes from hard-neck garlic plants. A scape is the flowering stalk of the garlic plant. Now, no one plants garlic for its flower stalk… We plant garlic for the garlic bulb! But when it comes to garlic, I dare say that the scape gets just as much attention as the bulb itself.

In my growing zone, we can plant both soft-neck garlic, which doesn’t produce a scape, and hard-neck garlic, which does produce a scape. For many years, I planted the soft-neck varieties until I decided to give a hard-neck variety a try. I didn’t think much about the scape… I was planting garlic for the… well, garlic.

Freezing garlic Scapes…

And then one day in May I woke up to a field of curly flower stalks. I knew I had to cut them so the energy of the plant would keep going towards developing a garlic clove, so then I found myself with a ton of garlic scapes (learn more about harvesting garlic scapes). Of course, I was excited to try to use them in different ways…

• Roasted Garlic Scapes
• Garlic Scape Pesto
• Pickled Garlic Scapes
• Fermented Garlic Scapes
• Dehydrated Garlic Scape

Every way that I used garlic scapes was a success! They are very easy to handle and are delicious any way you prepare them. I also ended up selling a lot of the scapes at the market, it was amazing to see how everyone loved them. At the end of the day, I did want to make sure that I had some scapes preserved for later so I figured I’d try to freeze some of them. They didn’t disappoint there either. Garlic scapes are very easy to freeze.

Ingredients…

• Garlic Scapes – as fresh as you can find them and as many as you want to freeze.

Kitchen Tools…

• Cutting board
• Knife
• A pot to boil water in
• Slotted spoon
• A strainer
• Kitchen towel or paper towel
• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Ziplock bags

What is Blanching?

In the step-by-step tutorial below, you’ll see that we blanch the scapes before freezing them (in step two). If you are unfamiliar with blanching, here is a great explanation of what it is from the National Center for Home Preservation:

Blanching (scalding vegetables in boiling water or steam for a short time) is a must for almost all vegetables to be frozen. It stops enzyme actions which can cause loss of flavor, color and texture.

Blanching cleanses the surface of dirt and organisms, brightens the color and helps retard loss of vitamins. It also wilts or softens vegetables and makes them easier to pack.

You can read more here.

How to Freeze Garlic Scapes…

Step one – cut the garlic scapes. If you’d like to, wash the scapes (honestly, I usually don’t). Then cut the flower top off, we aren’t going to use it so feel free to offer it to the chickens or place it in the compost. Cut the stem of the scapes into one-inch (or so) long pieces.

Step two – blanch the scapes. Fill a pot with water and set it on the stovetop. Turn the heat to high and bring the water to a boil. Add the scapes, a couple of cups at a time, and let them blanch in the water for two to three minutes. When you add the scapes to the boiling water, you’ll notice that the water stops boiling. You don’t have to wait for the water to start boiling again, start your timer from the time you added the scapes.

Now, in most places, you’ll find that they tell you to place the vegetables into an ice bath immediately (as I do here when freezing carrots) to stop the cooking. I hate this step because it’s hard to fish the vegetables from between the ice cubes, especially if they are cut into tiny pieces… I find that running cold water on them is good enough for me.

You can certainly fill a large bowl with water and add ice cubes and transfer the veggies there if you want to, I just use a skimmer ladle to scoop the scapes into a strainer and take it to the sink to run cold water over the scapes for a minute or so. From there, place the scapes on a clean kitchen towel and pat them dry.

Step three – freeze. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set the scapes in one layer on the sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 24 hours.

Step four – pack for storage. Now that the pieces of scapes are frozen individually, they won’t stick to one another in the ziplock bag. You can remove the baking sheet from the freezer and bag the scapes. You can use a produce bag, a ziplock bag, or you can vacuum seal the scapes. You can pack them in measurements of two cups, one cup… Whatever you think will be best and will make it easier for you to use later. Once packed, remember to label your bags before placing them back in the freezer.

How to Use Frozen Garlic Scapes…

Frozen garlic scapes are very easy to add to many dishes. You don’t need to thaw them before you use them. Simply add them while still frozen and they’ll easily cook with the dish in no time. Here are a few ideas, add them to…

• Casseroles
• Vegetable soup, or other kinds of soups
• Savory pies
• Baked chicken and veggies
• Israeli meatballs

Frequently Asked Questions…

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Garlic scapes are such an amazing crop. Its delicate garlic flavor is so special and the fact that we only get it for a very short time during the growing season makes this crop even more special. Enjoy it and preserve it any way you can!

More Freezing Tutorials…

• Freezing French Fries
• How to Freeze Tomatoes
• How to Freeze Pumpkin Puree
• How to Freeze Sweet Potatoes
• How to Freeze Leeks
• How to Freeze Green Beans

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