Vegetables and greens are the ultimate anti-waste products because, in many cases, you can use everything about them, even the parts you'd normally throw away. This is the case with garlic stalks, the least known and least used part of the plant: they're the shoots that appear in the center of the plant between April and May, when the garlic is fully ripe. Left on the plant, they produce garlic flowers, but almost no one knows they can be picked and eaten —in fact, they're actually very healthy. These thin, colorful, curved stalks are seasonal and sweet-tasting; they're rich in vitamins and minerals, and, just like garlic, have antibacterial and antioxidant effects. These shoots have a delicate, pleasantly aromatic flavor and are very easy to use: cleaned and blanched for a few minutes, they can be used to make preserves in oil, risottos, omelettes, and pasta dishes. Here's everything you need to know about this humble yet healthy food: where to find it, how to store it, and how to use it in the kitchen.
What Are Garlic Shoots and When Are They Harvested?
Garlic shoots are the green buds that emerge from inside the plant when it's time to flower. If they're not picked, they bloom into beautiful flowers once the plant has reached maturity. These flowers aren't seen very often because the shoots are harvested almost immediately, allowing the plant to focus its energy on producing a fabulously flavorful bulb. The shoots are harvested toward the end of May, while the bulbs are still budding, while the garlic bulbs are harvested in August. This allows the fields to produce two crops of garlic.
However, garlic shoots are often thrown away because their culinary potential is still not fully understood; once upon a time, they were even used only as a compost addition to fertilize fields. Instead, they are delicious, with a delicate, sweet flavor, like chives and shallots, but with an unmistakable garlic aroma that is much milder than that of the bulb on which they grew. Very similar in shape to long green beans, garlic shoots are particularly used and appreciated in New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, thanks to their usage in farm-to-table seasonal cooking, and Asian-inspired dishes as well.
As if that weren't enough, the shoots not only taste and smell like garlic, but they also boast the same beneficial properties. With just 84 kcal per 100 grams, they're incredibly low-calorie, and just like garlic, they contain vitamins B and C, and minerals, particularly phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium. They're also rich in allicin, an important substance with antibiotic and antibacterial effects that helps regulate blood cholesterol, blood sugar, and triglyceride levels. Not bad for a "waste" product!
Garlic Shoots' Flavor and Their Culinary Uses
Garlic shoots have a tender texture, similar to green beans, with a very sweet but much more delicate flavor than garlic, a taste more reminiscent of asparagus with aromatic notes and a pleasantly herbaceous aftertaste; precisely because of this delicacy, garlic shoots are easier to digest and do not cause bad breath.
Garlic shoots are very versatile: precisely because of their extreme delicacy, they can be eaten raw, especially added to salads or on top of bruschetta, as is done with spring onions, and of course they can be used to replace garlic in any recipe. The shoots are also excellent cooked; simply blanch them for a few minutes to make omelettes, risottos, and savory pies special. They are particularly well-suited to eggs, combining their delicately garlicky flavor with the sweetness, softness, and creaminess of the egg.
A unique yet delicious use for garlic shoots is to make a pesto with a delicate garlic flavor: simply blend them with basil in equal proportions—half of one and half of the other—and the other ingredients typical of classic Genoese pesto, but using garlic shoots instead of the traditional garlic clove. You'll get the same delicious ingredient, but much more delicate. Garlic shoots are also used to flavor butter, a way to make this product even more exquisite: chop the shoots, melt them in unsalted butter, and mix them together. Then, place the mixture in the refrigerator in ice cube trays or silicone molds. The flavored butter will solidify and you'll have it ready to use as a seasoning for pasta dishes, such as those with stuffed pasta like ravioli, and to flavor grilled or pan-fried fish.
Speaking of grilling, garlic shoots are delicious pan-fried like spring onions or leeks and then served as a side dish. Or you can transform them into a rich sauce to accompany meat or potatoes by chopping them very finely and then mixing them with mayonnaise or yogurt sauce in place of the chives. It’s also worth looking at how garlic shoots are used in regions where they’re more common. In the United States, especially in areas with strong farmers’ market and farm-to-table traditions, garlic scapes are often kept simple to highlight their fresh, mild flavor. They might be quickly blanched or sautéed, then dressed with olive oil, a splash of vinegar or lemon juice, and a pinch of salt, and served as a seasonal side dish or appetizer. In home kitchens, another popular approach is to pickle or preserve garlic scapes in oil or vinegar, a practical method that extends their short season and allows cooks to enjoy their flavor year-round.
How to Clean, Store and Cook Garlic Shoots
As you may have guessed, garlic shoots are an extremely versatile and useful product to have on hand, but they're also very rare to find for sale and are only available for a few months in spring, a very limited window of opportunity. How? The secret is learning how to store them properly so you can stock up.
The first step, whether you want to preserve them or simply cook them, is cleaning. To clean garlic shoots, start by removing the tip (the ball-shaped "cylinder") and cutting off the end (about 1 cm from the base of the stem). Rinse them to remove any residual soil and dry them with a cloth or paper towel. At this point, you can proceed to use the garlic shoots directly by trying one of the recipes we've suggested, or you can store them so you can have them available later. In this case, you have two options: first, you can preserve the garlic shoots fresh, because they don't deteriorate particularly quickly, so you can simply place them in the refrigerator in perforated bags, where they will stay fresh and usable for about a month.
If you want to extend the shelf life of the shoots, you have two options: you can boil them in a mixture of water and vinegar for about ten minutes and then place them in sterilized jars, completely covered with oil, to create a long-lasting preserve. Alternatively, you can finely chop the shoots, place them in ice cube trays with olive oil, and leave them in the freezer until the oil thickens. Then remove them and place them in a freezer bag, where they will keep for up to a year.
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