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Garlic scapes are the curling green stems that grow from hardneck garlic in late June, a few weeks before the bulbs are ready to harvest. They need to come off — leaving them on means smaller bulbs — but that doesn’t mean they belong in the compost. They have a fresh, mild garlic flavour that is genuinely useful in the kitchen, and compound butter is one of the smartest things you can make with them.
The case for making this now: garlic scapes are available for only two to three weeks each year, but compound butter keeps in the freezer for two months. Make a batch this week and you’ll have it through August. That is a good trade for ten minutes of work.
If you don’t grow your own garlic, check your local farmers’ market. Scapes are showing up at vendors across Ontario and the northern United States right now, usually sold in bunches for a few dollars. The window closes by mid-July.
A Brief History of Compound Butter — and Why It Still Works
Compound butter has a long and practical history in European cooking. In Edwardian England, the technique was well established in professional and country house kitchens, partly through the influence of Auguste Escoffier, whose methods had spread from French restaurants to British households by the early 1900s. Flavoured butters — maître d’hôtel butter, lobster butter, anchovy butter — appeared in Edwardian cookbooks as standard finishing tools, not special-occasion items.
The logic was simple: butter is a carrier. It picks up and holds flavour, melts smoothly over heat, and enriches anything it touches without requiring a separate sauce. A cook could prepare a batch at the start of the week, wrap it, keep it in the larder, and reach for it whenever a dish needed finishing. Below stairs, where Mrs. Patmore would have been cooking for a full household, that kind of efficiency mattered.
Garlic scapes weren’t specifically documented in compound butter recipes of the era — garlic itself was considered too ‘continental’ for upper-class English dining rooms. But the technique fits the ingredient perfectly. The scapes are mild enough to use generously, fresh enough to add brightness, and available exactly when you want to use them.
One technique note worth knowing before you start: the butter must be genuinely soft — not melted, but soft enough that a finger pressed in leaves an impression without resistance. Cold butter won’t incorporate the scapes evenly and you’ll end up with green streaks rather than a uniform mixture. Leave it out for an hour before you begin.
Storage
Refrigerator: up to one week, wrapped tightly in parchment or plastic wrap.
Freezer: up to two months. Slice the log before freezing so you can pull individual portions without thawing the whole thing. A sharp knife and a quick cut straight from the fridge — before wrapping for the freezer — is the easiest approach.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use softneck garlic scapes?
Softneck garlic does not produce scapes. Only hardneck varieties send up the curling flower stalk. If your garlic plant isn’t producing scapes, it is likely a softneck variety.
What can I substitute if I don’t have garlic scapes?
The closest substitute is two to three garlic cloves plus a small bunch of chives. The flavour will be sharper and less fresh than scapes, but the compound butter will still be good.
Can I make this dairy-free?
Yes. A good quality vegan butter works well here. Choose one that is firm enough to hold its shape when chilled.
How much does one slice weigh?
Each slice from a standard log is approximately 10 grams or just under one tablespoon. One slice is enough to finish one portion of grilled protein or a side dish for two.
Downton Abbey Cooks has been publishing Edwardian food history and recipes for 15 years. Creator Pamela Foster has been featured by the Washington Post, BBC Radio, CBS, and CBC. Browse the full garlic scape collection and the Edwardian kitchen garden series on the site.
Garlic scapes are one of the most underused ingredients of early summer. If you want to go further with them, the complete garlic scape guide on Downton Abbey Cooks covers their Edwardian history and includes three more recipes: grilled scapes with lemon and Parmesan, a kitchen garden green sauce, and a cream soup that belongs firmly in Mrs. Patmore’s kitchen.
Edwardian Garlic Scape Compound Butter
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup 115g unsalted butter, softened
- 4 to 5 fresh garlic scapes finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- A few grinds of black pepper
- Optional: 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Pulse scapes and parsley in a small food processor until finely chopped, or chop by hand for more texture.
- Mix into softened butter with salt, pepper, and lemon juice if using. Scrape onto parchment paper, roll into a log about 1.5 inches in diameter, twist the ends to seal.
- Refrigerate at least one hour. Keeps one week in the fridge, two months in the freezer.
Notes
