My mind has been on the letter S as of late. I’ve been asking friends and family if it’s still Spring, or if Summer has officially begun. My Sister Summer had her birthday recently. And in between Sowing Seed Starts, we’ve been Snapping off Scapes to make Scrumptious Savory Sustenance. 

Ssooooo… allow me to tell you what exactly we concocted. It’s horrifyingly complex. Very difficult. Just the thing for the frantic Spring farmer. Macaroni Salad.

In keeping with the ‘S’ theme and accommodating the mind-boggling farm hustle, I thought we would keep it SIMPLE. So, in all seriousness, we snapped our scapes, made our side dish and scurried back to work in the scorching sun.

We actually made ours for Father’s Day, but fortunately you can find scapes in June. If you’re reading this late or just can’t find them around you, try looking around farms further north. I have a close farmer friend who was just talking about how late his are compared to mine and he’s only about a half hour further north in the Delaware River valley. Despite this short distance, he doesn’t see scapes until almost July. 

If you have scapes now but don’t know what to do with them yet, just freeze them for later. Throw them in a recloseable bag and freeze away.

I have other friends who love to pickle scapes. If you like hot and spicy and pickle-y treats, that’s a great one for you to try as well. Now that I think about it, pickled scapes diced into mac salad would be great, almost as if you used a sweet relish. But my hungry mind wanders…

Honestly, mac salad with garlic scapes mixed in is a great alteration on a classic. We simply dice our scapes to a desirable size and mix until we have a balanced dish. You really don’t need too much to make a good portion. After all, how much mac salad would you want to eat? 

And while my mind is considering the possibilities, you could just as easily use these in potato salad. Take your favorite recipe and just add the scapes. They’re nothing special in terms of complex ingredients, but they certainly are when it comes to fresh, snappy flavor. 

If you want yet another way to save them, do what is done with minced garlic—soak them in oil. You can mince the scapes as you would the cloves and preserve them for a time in clean olive oil. Pay attention, though, because some of the newer oils on the market are not as fully researched for food preservation purposes and can still foster the growth of bacteria. Avocado oil is one such, despite it being one of my new favorite oils—I can avoid the heavily processed vegetable oil or even canola oil.

At the end of the day, do what works for you and make it your own. Safety is an obvious first priority, but flavor is a mandatory second, with health benefits and the like fighting for shoulder room in your gambit for creativity. 

The way out here, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel to come up with a great new dish, as long as we remember to utilize the seasonal bounties that make old ideas feel fresh and new. Keep it simple—and while you’re at it, here’s another S word: Support. Support your local farmer in your hunt for succulent scapes.