Pickled Garlic Scapes

Day 25

My daughter has been working on a farm this spring helping the CSA farmer plant his gardens and take care of his free range chickens. We have a patch of garlic gone wild that never seems to do much so we've kind of neglected it. She noticed the little pods at the top and commented that they should be removed so the bulbs would grow bigger. Well, I've done that in the past with my onions but not the garlic. So, you're probably saying to yourself, "Well, doesn't everyone know that?" Here's the problem...I'd been told that the pod on the top was seed garlic for next year. So far, so good. But I'd been told to leave them on so I"d have some to plant the next year. I should also say that the person who told me about that was never able to grow nice garlic either. Should have been a clue, right?
My daughter also told me that the scapes are good in salads and stir fry. I think ours were a little too far along to use like that but we thought we'd try pickling some. We packed a large mason jar with scapes and sprigs of oregano. Then we added a brine of 4 cups vinegar, 2 cups water, 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/8 cup real salt. In two weeks we'll see how they taste.