Over the holiday, I noticed that the tops of a few garlic scapes still hanging around in the fridge vegetable drawer had developed a bulb-like top. I spied this when I peeled away the papery layer on the outside.
I learned those little kernels are called garlic bubils. I decided to call them garlic pearls.
The bubils can be eaten. Their flavor is mild. One thwack of the flat side of a chef’s knife separates the pearls from the stem, which can then go into whatever I’m making that calls for garlic.
This process took a few months in a forgotten corner of our vegetable crisper. The rest of the scape will toughen and start to yellow before the bulb end of the scape expands and bubils form.
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
5
I am flattered! IIRC you can start there (with bulbils), but it takes years! I usually harvest the scapes as they begin to uncurl, and I’d probably eat the bulbils too, since hard neck garlic is hard enough around here!
Also, letting alliums go to seed is often avoided since it reduces the size of the bulb most people are trying to grow. But I think it’s the way to develop new varieties.
I found this here; There are also details about growing them in the linked website
Q: How long does it take a garlic bulbil to turn into a garlic bulb?
A: Depending on variety, 2-3 years. Typically, if a bulbil is planted in the fall (lets say October), when it’s harvested in the following Summer (July) it will be a round. A round is like a single garlic clove. If the garlic round is planted that fall, when it’s harvested in the following Summer, it will be a small bulb with individual cloves. How big the bulb will be depends on soil (fertility, ph, type etc…), variety of garlic, and growing conditions/climate.
I am now realizing we might be talking about growing garlic from bulbils on a scape in the refrigerator, while I imagine most of the literature is about growing garlic from garlic scapes on planes that went to seed while the plant was still in the ground.
The rest of the scape will toughen and start to yellow before the bulb end of the scape expands and bubils form.
