The past few weeks I keep hearing the word "RAMPS" pop up on foodie websites and blogs. NYMag reported that Tom Colicchio decided to add "RAMPS" to his Tom's Tuesday dinner menu last week. (Pickled ramps to be exact. Interesting.)
Ramp? Like the thing you skateboard off of?
No. Not that ramp. I googled "RAMPS, food" and found a whole world of message boards and blog posts about where, when and how to find and serve "RAMPS". The NY Times even did a "Hunting for Ramps" article a few years back.
Spring Ramp Search. Apparently there is a kind of cult following of people who go out foraging for ramps when they are in season from late March to early May. Instead of Easter eggs, foodies go ramp-hunting in spring!
Help! I asked my twitter followers: what is a RAMP?? And here are my fave replies from foodie twitter-ers:
"Ramps are very potent onions, in fact most ramp hunters sniff them out in the woods."
"I love ramps. Basically a stronger flavor wild leek/onion. I know they grow in Indiana and Kentucky & sprout right b4 morels."
"I had some pickled ramps in a wonderful tasting menu at Babbo. They are similar to scallions, right?"
Thanks for the comments!
Click ahead and learn about RAMPS with me!...
All About RAMPS
Essence: white truffle. yum!
What: In the leek family. Looks like a cross between a scallion and a leek. Floppy bright green tops, white bulb bottom.
Where: Wild! And in specialty stores...
Nutrition, (my specialty): High in Vitamin C! Good source of fiber, and low in calories.
NYTIMES quote from Ramps article (link above):
"Ramps are transformative, even magical. Once, as I was carting pounds of them back to the city, their intense garlic smell turned floral, almost like the scent of lilacs."
To see a video of RAMP HUNTING:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC8GEDU114U
...I'm by all means not an expert on ramps-yet!
Please leave comments about your RAMPS knowledge. And if I find some ramps-I will post a recipe and taste-review for sure!
...NYC Greenmarkets must have some...
Dani says
My family and I would go camping in South Central Texas when I was young, and pick these all the time. We just called them wild onions. Eventually my mother planted some in our backyard.
You can smell them a mile away.
Wild Food UK says
It's great you're posting about Ramps, but can I PLEASE ask that Ramp Hunters only take what they need.
Plus from my experience as a daily forager you don't need to uproot Ramps, simply harvest the leaves and leave the root/bulb alone.
Digging up a plant kills it! Over here in the UK we have a real problem of the land being stripped of wild edible plants due to over harvesting for the commercial foodie market.
Thanks for listening and happy foraging folks.
Janis says
I have no first hand experience with ramps, but a friend from West Virginia told me that kids were told not to come to school if they'd been eating ramps because the kids would reek.
Also if you ever saw John Sayle's "Matewan" about the coal field wars of 1920 has a scene where the "native" West Virginians are sharing their food with Italian immigrants. A hillbilly mother offers ramps to an Italian mother who says (in Italian) "Ah! Garlic!"
Another wild food that I'd like to try are fiddle-heads. I think this is the season for them - or will be soon.
Travis says
Ramps are delicious. They are not cheap though. That is why it is such a popular food to pick wild.