For decades, ramps festivals in West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina have celebrated the brief season of the ramp, also known as the wild leek or wild onion. Mentions by New York magazine and Martha Stewart have made ramps a must-have item in pricier shops. Yet most Americans have never seen a ramp plant and certainly wouldn't know identify one on a foraging hike. There are some easy tips that will help you not only to spot ramps but to bring them home to your own table. If you're lucky, you may even find some on your own property.
Instructions
1. Ask around. You may find someone in the know willing to share the best ramp patches in the area, In Benton, Tennessee, fans embark on an annual "Ramp Tramp" to find and forage for the delicious plant.
2. Choose early spring for your ramp hunting adventure. The plants emerge then, before trees turf leafy.
3. Seek out deciduous woodland areas with moist ground. Land with streams or ponds nearby represent good choices, as does acreage that also hosts hellebores, ferns and moss.
4. Climb to the highest points of your trail. Ramps prefer higher elevations.
5. Look low to the ground for the ramps. The leaves grow only about 10 inches high. But because ramps spread aggressively, they tend to choke out higher-growing plants so they won't be lost in the underbrush.
6. Look for broad-leafed, green leaves resembling those of the lily of the valley. Because ramps colonize with wild abandon, you are apt to see vast stretches of these sword-like leaves.
7. Learn to distinguish the ramp from the false hellebore, which often grows nearby. The ramp's stem is reddish-purple, while the false hellebore's stem is white. In addition, the false hellebore's leaves grow wider and have heavier veins than those of the ramp.
Of course, in addition to the visual clues, taste tells the true tale. Ramps leaves can't be considered anything but "oniony."
8. Dig up a plant. If a small bulb protrudes from the stem, you almost unmistakably have found ramps. While these bulbs burst with flavor, they don't resemble their larger, domestic onion cousins in size.
9. Harvest your ramp crop. The roots tend to entwine themselves around rocks and other roots, so make sure to bring a sharp hoe or knife to disengage them. Grasping the ramp at the leaves or stem won't get the bulb to come up with the plant, and both the leaves and bulbs can be eaten. Some people prefer to use just the leaves in quiche, omelets and pesto, while pickled ramps usually feature the bulbs and perhaps an inch or two of green.
Tags: false hellebore, leaves grow, your ramp