Aglione scapes and shoots: what they are and how to cook them

There is a moment, towards the end of April, when Aglione della Valdichiana gives you something that is not yet aglione. These are the flower scapes — the tender stems the plant pushes upward before it blooms — and they are picked precisely to stop it blooming: all the energy that would go into the flower goes back into the bulb instead.

Growers do it for the bulb. Cooks discovered that the offcut was an ingredient.

Scapes or shoots? Two words for one thing

In the Valdichiana you hear both. Flower scape is the botanical term: the stem that carries the flower head. Tallo, shoot, is the field word, the one used at the market. They mean the same growth, picked at the same moment.

What makes them interesting is the flavour: they have the aroma of aglione — sweet, round, never sharp — with the texture of a green vegetable. They behave more like asparagus than like garlic.

When you can find them

A few weeks, between late April and May. It is a narrow window and it does not stretch: after that the plant flowers and the stems turn woody. Which is why you only find them fresh in season, and why the rest of the year they are kept under oil.

Four ways to bring them to the table

Fried in batter. The most direct way, and probably the best. Cut them into sticks of five or six centimetres, dip them in a light batter and fry in properly hot oil until golden. Serve at once, hot, with coarse salt. Beside them, a cold craft beer.

In an omelette. Soften them in a pan with a little oil for four or five minutes, until they give, then fold them into beaten eggs. They are rustic and full of flavour, and with good eggs they become a meal.

In risotto. Finely chopped and added halfway through, they scent the rice without covering anything. A grating of pecorino at the end closes the circle.

Under oil. This is the preserve that lets you have them in December. They go on bruschetta, beside grilled meat, into a salad of roasted vegetables.

The trick that changes everything

Do not overcook them. Shoots lose their character quickly: a few minutes in the pan is enough. If they turn soft, you have lost exactly the thing that made them worth looking for.

If the season has passed

We work the shoots as soon as they are picked. You will find them in our Aglione Shoots under oil, in the Aglione Shoot Cream — excellent on toast or for finishing pasta — and in the Aglione Scape Sauce, where the shoot meets the tomato.