Friday, April 12, 2019

Ramping It Up


Ramps are available now in a few local stores and Claui gave us a bunch.  Their roots were attached and, though the foliage had wilted, an overnight soak and they perked right up.

I chopped up some to sauté in butter with some shitake (John picked a basketful yesterday.)  The tasty result will be added to rice for a side dish at dinner.


But the rest went in the ground to add to the little ramp patch I've been cultivating behind our house.


I add to it most springs and the ramps are doing well -- though only a few have reached enough maturity to multiply. In the wild, the bulbs double and redouble till the ground is a mat of the green blades.


If we have ramps growing wild on our property, they're probably on the steep, mostly inaccessible, slopes. So this little nearby patch, gives me a great deal of pleasure. Who knows, someday, it may become prolific enough to actually harvest more than a careful few leaves.



3 comments:

Sandra Parshall said...

I still remember the overpowering odor of ramps from my years in West Virginia.

Barbara Rogers said...

How lovely and appropriate sign of spring here in the mountains.

Glenda Beall said...

An interesting post about ramps. I still have never tasted them although I have lived here over twenty years. I didn't even know what they looked like, so thanks for the education.