One of my favorite vegetables to grow is garlic. It doesn’t take up much space in the garden and it is much better than most of the garlic that is readily available in grocery stores. In the summer the farmers markets often have great garlic producers who you can use for your source for planting your own. Talk to them and try a few different types and plant what you like best. I have found some types of garlic that I try to keep going each year. The time to plant is in October and the time for harvest starts in July. Each clove of garlic produces one head when planted. It is important to start with large heads as large cloves produce bigger heads of garlic.

The reason I’m mentioning garlic on my olive oil blog is – pesto. Not just your regular basil, pinenut, parmesean and olive oil type but Scape Pesto.

I just made some pesto as my garlic had formed scapes. Scapes are the curly gooseneck looking flower buds of the garlic plant. They usually start forming in June. It is in the best interest of the developing bulb of garlic to remove these. I cut them and make a pesto that is so delicious. You probably don’t have scapes unless you planted your garlic last fall but the farmers markets may have some. If so give it a try, it’s super easy and it may get you thinking about planting your own garlic. You do need a sunny location with good drainage to grow garlic. It should be possible to grow garlic in pots if you don’t have garden space.

Here is my recipe for

Scape Pesto

2 Cups of garlic scapes, cut into 1″ pieces

3 Tbsp sunflower seeds toasted

3 cups of basil leaves

1/4 tsp of sea salt

1/4 tsp of black pepper

1/2 cup of Amelia Oil

Put all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth. I like it with a little texture.

It will keep for several days in the frig or you can freeze it.

It can be served with pasta or crostini.

Enjoy!