Q:At the market this weekend, I bought what I was told to be garlic greens (see pictures). I had to have them, they are beautiful!
Are they garlic greens? I've never cooked with these before, any suggestions? Is the bud at the tip edible?
Sent by Mila
Editor: Mila, we often see these in big bundles at the Asian grocery, and while we think of them as garlic scapes, they may not be scapes, exactly. They are definitely the stalk or shoot of the garlic plant, though, so they are similar.
We like to use these like scallions or chives; just be aware that they are probably much more intense and spicy than scallions. Try chopping them up (including the bud!) and stir-frying or adding to a frittata.
Readers, other ideas for Mila's find?

Related: A Farmers' Market Report: Garlic Scapes and Blossoms
(Images: Mila via email)
i have been growing garlic and also learning about the vrious stages of garlic growth.
first, you plant a clove of garlic. it produces roots first and then sends up leaves. after a while, it will send up a flower stalk. what you see in the picture is the flower stalk. it has a mild garlic flavor. next, scapes form inside the flower stalk. these are like small (about the size of a pea) garlic cloves. usually, farmers will cut this off to channel the plant's energy into creating large cloves. scapes are also delicious. you can leave the scapes on and they will bloom into a purple, ball-shaped flower. then, those flowers will all produce tiny garlic seeds, which look like garlic cloves about 1/8" to 1/4" in size. you can plant these garlic seeds, but they will produce a very small head of garlic in the first year. you can then replant those cloves from that small head and have a larger head the following year.
to cook the flower stalks, i recommend sauteeing them or incorporating in a stir fry or throwing into a soup.
view pedalpowered's profile
I think those are flowering chives, yes? I stir-fry them with oyster mushrooms, fish sauce and garlic.
view DCarl1's profile
You can BBQ them. Brush them with olive oil, salt and pepper.
view wesaturtle's profile
These are guow choy, which I've always called Chinese chives, though they are more like a cross between garlic scapes and chives.
The classic Chinese way to serve them is cut into 1.5-2 inch long pieces and stir-fried, along with small pieces of very aromatic meat. I would marinate little strips of pork or lamb with soy sauce, sriracha and cumin; fry that up, then add the chives, fry briefly and finish with a touch of oyster sauce. A bit of ground bean sauce (also called yellow bean sauce) would go well with it too.
view Michelle of Montreal's profile
Stir fry is definitely the way to go. You can stir fry them with meat slices, or cut them into 2-3 inches long and incorporate it with eggs and scramble them. They're delicious.
Sometime I would mince them and put them into dumpling fillings. It adds a depth of flavor and aroma to the dumplings.
Beware though, that these chives can give you bad breadth, just like garlic.
view dezine's profile
I'm going to second everyone else's notions to stirfry it. In Thailand lots of people eat young garlic shoots like these for breakfast either simply stirfried with oyster or fish sauce or bean sauce or scrambled into eggs and then on top of rice. Eggs and garlic are nice with the typical Thai condiments: ground chiles, fish sauce with red or green chiles, rice vinegar with green chiles, etc.
view lotusmoss's profile
I treat them just like asparagus - chopped into 1 1/2" long pieces and quickly sautéed in a little EVOO with a pinch of salt and pepper. They've got enough flavor in them to stand by themselves, but the flowers are the REALLY strong parts. After the first time I made these and was taken by surprise by their intensity, I just cut them off after cooking them with the stalks to poach some of their flavor, but I'll leave them in the pan when serving.
view snicklenose's profile
You can make a really nice pesto out of scapes. I don't have a recipe handy, but just google it - it's pretty basic.
view ChzPlz's profile
These were in every market in Thailand--now I know what they were!
view jen_g's profile
I've had them pickled at a Russian dinner party. I think they can be pickled and canned in the same way you would green beans. They were soooo good.
view fischbowl's profile
They are garlic chives. They are distinct from both garlic greens and "normal" chives, while still being in the onion/garlic family. They're almost always sold in this stage (and honestly, if you paid more than 50 cents a bunch, buy them at an asian grocer). I love them... I stir fry them, I make scallion pancakes with them, I put them in risottos... but the best use is Pad Thai, where they are the traditional green.
view alexandsnakes's profile
My favorite dumpling recipe from The Good Fork restaurant uses a cup of garlic chives.
Here is the recipe but don't use the firm tofu----I saw Sohui Kim make these on throwdown and she definitely used soft silken tofu.
http://nymag.com/restaurants/recipes/inseason/17301/
Garlic chives are also very good in Korean pancakes. You can make the flour mixture yourself or buy it ready to use with the addition of water in any Korean supermarket.
http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/vegetable-pancake-with-asian-chives
I sometimes use garlic chives (but in far less amounts because they are more potent) in place of scallions in ginger-scallion dipping sauce that I use for dumplings as well as Hainanese chicken
I usually omit the soy and adjust the salt accordingly.
http://www.wnyc.org/arts/articles/143591
view saluki's profile
Every time I've seen garlic chives used it's been in the final stages of something like pad thai...
view ms_flea_kiedis's profile