Grow Local: Ledge Ends Garlic Scapes

Grow Local: Ledge Ends Garlic Scapes

For around 300 years there’s been a farm along the border of East Greenwich and North Kingstown.  Now owned by the East Greenwich Municipal Land Trust, the Briggs-Boesch Farm is home to Ledge Ends Produce and has been managed by Erik Eacker since 2004.  Eacker came to Rhode Island from northern New York, almost to the Canadian border, where the growing season is very short.  Ledge Ends is certified organic as the crops are grown without any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides and they’re adding new crops all the time.  Organic apples and cherries are new plantings this year, along with the usual tomatoes, onions, berries, leafy greens and many other types of produce.

When I asked Erik if he had a produce preference, he was quick to respond that garlic was his favorite by far.  It’s planted in the autumn before the ground hardens, usually around October or early November, and it starts to come up in the spring.  There’s no pollination required, which makes it perfect for growing during colder months.  Besides its delicious flavor, garlic has long been considered a very powerful food with many healing properties.  It also fits very well into the organic rotation, so it’s a perfect crop for Ledge Ends.

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One of the things Erik loves about garlic is the number of different ways you can harvest it at various stages of growth.  Ledge Ends grows a hardneck variety of garlic called Music; the first product from it is green garlic, which looks a lot like a scallion with a very mild garlic flavor.  By mid-June the immature stalks have become garlic scapes which need to be pulled off or the garlic under the earth will not properly develop into a bulb.  Finally, when the above-ground leaves are half-live/half-dead that’s an indication it’s time to harvest the bulbs.

You can find Ledge Ends Produce at five different farmers markets around the area, including the Saturday Coastal Growers Market and the Friday Goddard Park market which have already begun for 2010 and the Monday East Greenwich market which begins June 21.  They also have a 200+ member CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) which is still accepting sign-ups.  Also at the markets this summer watch for their first bottled product, Pickled Garlic Scapes, made from a recipe Erik developed with his Dad.

I asked Erik, besides pickling, what’s his favorite garlic scape recipe.  I don’t think you could get much more tasty and simple than this:

Grilled Garlic Scapes
Ingredients:
Garlic scapes
Olive oil
Salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Procedure:
Start your grill, toss the scapes with the oil, salt and pepper, put them over medium heat (I would recommend some kind of mesh or perforated grilling pan) and cook until very lightly blackened.  Serve as a great side dish for all your summer grilling.

Ledge Ends Produce, 884-5118, www.ledgeendsproduce.com

Photos David Dadekian