The stalls at the farmers’ market last Saturday were filled with fresh vegetables and flowers along with lots of delicious aromas and bright colors. Jack and I took Blake to the smaller market in downtown Minneapolis, located near the Mill City Museum. It was a very cool and cloudy morning but that didn’t stop us from having fun.
Here are some beautiful jewel-tone young carrots. We bought two bunches, one for us and one for Blake and his parents.
We tasted smoked salmon, cinnamon raisin bread (bought two loaves), rhubarb-strawberry and basil jam (my fave), fresh cheese seasoned with garlic and rosemary (we plan to enjoy that this weekend along with a bottle of red wine—this was the cheese maker’s recommendation), a rich chocolate candy (made with only dark chocolate, raisins, honey and almonds) and more.
As we were leaving we noticed a farmer who was cutting parts off a green vegetable I’d never seen before.
He told us they were garlic scapes. The scapes are the flower stems that garlic plants produce before the bulbs mature. Growers often remove the scapes to push the plant’s energy toward bigger bulbs.
When harvested while they are young and tender, the scapes are delicious. The farmer gave me a sheet with recipes for: Garlic Scape Pesto, Hummus with Garlic Scapes, Grilled Caesar Salad with Garlic Scape Caesar Dressing, and Whipped Garlic Scape Butter that I plan to serve on steaks this weekend. (If you would like any of these recipes, let me know in the comments box and I’ll post them in a future blog.)
Here is Blake leaving the market with our bag full of garlic scapes.
