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:
I still remember the overpowering odor of ramps from my years in West Virginia.
How lovely and appropriate sign of spring here in the mountains.
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.
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