Pickled Garlic Scapes

We have been getting garlic scapes in our CSA (community-supported agriculture) box from Robina's Organics recently. I will be sharing some of the things I've done with them soon - they add a delicious, subtle garlic flavor to dishes - but I decided to pickle them. No surprise there, right?! 

Garlic scapes grow from the tops of hardneck garlic. I had seen a jar of pickled scapes and decided to give that a shot. These ended up being a little bit more woody and hardy than I had anticipated; I had expected them to resemble pickled green beans in texture. So, next time I might blanch them before I pickle them.

However, upon further reading, these will work well in pesto and grilled. So, I'll try that with my next bundle of scapes that I picked up yesterday.

Ingredients

• 1 stem organic, fresh dill flowers
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper chile flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• enough scapes to roll into a jar (I only had one bunch)
• 3/4 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 teaspoon salt
• Also needed: lidded jar; nice to have: Pickle Pebble (glass weight to keep the veggies submerged)

Procedure

Place the peppercorns and red pepper chile flakes in the bottom of your jar. Roll the scapes so that they fit nicely into your jar. Set aside.

In a saucepan, bring vinegar, water, salt, and honey to a boil. Pour hot liquid over the scapes, pressing down on the vegetables so that brine covers them completely. I use a Pickle Pebble to keep everything weighted down. Let cool on the counter to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. I try to pickle them for at least 5 days. This will keep, refrigerated for a month.

Because these are more hardy than I thought, I will be chopping them and using them in an egg salad or tuna salad sandwich.