Making Garlic Scape Salt

A couple of weeks ago we were given a bag of garlic scapes. We tried garlic scapes last year when we grew our own garlic. That first year, we cut them up into small rounds and used them in stir fry. They gave it a nice flavor. This year, we decided to try garlic scape salt.

What are Garlic Scapes? 

Garlic scapes are the long, curly central stalk that grows from the bulb of hardneck garlic plants. This stalk must be pulled or cut in order for the garlic bulb to grow larger. Garlic scapes have a mild garlic flavor and can be used to flavor dishes just like garlic.

Garlic scapes

Garlic scapes can be cut up and used in dishes such as stir fries, eggs, and casseroles. They can be used to make a pesto. They can also be used to make a garlic scape infused oil and garlic flavored salt. Because we love our food well seasoned, we opted to make a batch of garlic scape salt with the majority of the scapes and freeze the rest for later use.

Making Garlic Scape Salt

We followed the Homemade Garlic Scape Salt recipe and directions from Sprig and Spoon.

First, we washed the scapes and dried them well. Since we would be mixing the chopped scapes with salt, we wanted to be sure they were well dried so as not to dissolve the salt granules.

Next, we removed the bud end and chopped enough scapes to measure approximately 1 cup (ours was a bit over).

Measured scapes

The recipe called for using a food processor for the next step, but since we don't have one that does well with small amounts, we opted to use the cup blender. We blended the scapes until they were finely chopped.

Blending scapes to finely chop them

Once the scapes were blended, we mixed in 1/3 cup of salt and stirred them together until well blended and it made a thick paste.

Adding the salt

We then spread the paste out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. It was not easy to get an even, thin layer, so we did our best and called it good enough.

Ready for the oven

We then put the paste in the oven at 175 degrees according to the directions. We stirred them periodically. It should have taken 30 to 45 minutes, but after that amount of time, it seemed too damp yet. This is likely due to the fact that we didn't get a nice thin, even layer on the sheet. We live in a somewhat humid environment and wanted to be sure that the salt was well-dried, so we let it bake for another 30 minutes or so.

Once dried, we removed the garlic scape salt from the pan and put it in the newly cleaned and dried blender again. We blended it until we got the consistency we wanted. Once finished, we put it in a clean, sterile glass jar with a lid. This is pretty enough to use for gift-giving. It would look lovely in a basket of homemade goodies!

Finished garlic scape salt

As you can see, the smaller particles sink to the bottom. We don't mind the variance in salt particle size, but if you prefer your salt to be more uniform, you can simply blend it longer. 

Using Garlic Scape Salt

How do you use garlic scape salt? You can use it to season anything just like you would use garlic salt. The taste is similar, just a bit more mild. So far, we have used it on steaks, eggs, and pasta. It has been great on all of it so far. We plan to also use it for homemade sourdough garlic bread and for a roasted vegetable seasoning.