what can we use as a substitute for garlic scapes?

I've always thought the flavor, texture, and visual appeal of garlic chives is a good substitute for garlic scapes.

I actually meant fresh garlic, that's in the Greenmarkets right now. When garlic is young, it resembles scallions. And it has a lighter, fresh flavor. A little stornger than the scapes, but a reasonable substitute. I think I'd use one stalk of fresh garlic (bulb and leaves) for 3 scapes.

garlic scapes are the shoots that come up from the developing garlic bulb (which grows under ground) in spring. Cutting off the scape helps the plant focus it's growing attention on the bulb. The scapes have the flavor of garlic but are generally less pungent. If a recipe calls for garlic scapes and you want to sub garlic cloves, you would not necessarily go one for one. Of course, just like all cloves can have different levels of pungency, so can scapes so you have to go a little by taste, but for a recipe serving 4 - 6 for a mellow garlic flavor you might want 2 cloves depending how large they are.

Sorry, I'm a new cook -- When you say to use fresh garlic, do you mean I should replace the garlic scapes in a recipe with an equal amount of garlic cloves? Or is there some other form of garlic that is used besides cloves?

Many thanks for any help that you can provide.

You could also use the fresh garlic. Not all of them have scapes attached.