We have an abundance of local garlic scapes in the produce department, and our favorite thing to make is pesto! Our recipe can be made vegan, using nutritional yeast instead of parmesan.
On the Ingredients
- Garlic scapes are long, curly, green stalks that grow from garlic bulbs. Often, they have an immature bud on one end, which would have developed into a flower if the scape hadn’t been harvested. In flavor, they are herbaceous, oniony, and lightly spicy when raw, though much more mild than raw garlic. After they’re cooked, they become mildly sweet, similar to roasted garlic, and have a texture similar to asparagus. Garlic scapes are only available during a short season in late spring and early summer.
- Nutritional yeast is a type of yeast known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the same type of yeast used for bread or beer. However, it’s inactive, making it suitable for seasoning. Because of its delicious umami flavor, it’s popular in vegan cooking, especially for cheese flavor replacement. Nutritional yeast is an excellent plant-based protein with all nine essential amino acids. Fortified Nutritional Yeast is especially rich in B vitamins, including thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), and B6 and B12. There are also trace minerals, including zinc, selenium, manganese, and molybdenum. (more on health benefits).
Garlic Scape Pesto
Servings
4
servingsPrep time
10
minutesCooking timeminutes
Total time
10
minutesWe have an abundance of local garlic scapes in the produce department, and our favorite thing to make is pesto! Our recipe can be made vegan, using nutritional yeast instead of parmesan.
Ingredients
- Garlic Scape Pesto Ingredients
1/3 cup chopped garlic scapes
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (or parmesan)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cup fresh basil
1 tsp lemon juice
Directions
- To make the pesto, pulse the ingredients in a food processor until you reach the desired consistency.
