With the start of Spring comes the start of foraging season and it's already time to preserve some of the exciting flavors after a long (very looooong) winter here in Minnesota. So I called up a friend who was rumored to have a plethora of ramps (a.k.a. wild leeks) on his property and went at it. We struck a deal where I head out to his place every couple days and harvest a bucket full of ramps, I clean up and bundle some to sell at the local food co-op in town for his profit and I get to take home and eat eat eat as much as I want... mmm. mmm. What a glorious barter, there's nothing more exhilerating then getting out in the woods on a sunny cool day with pitchfork and bucket in hand. The forest smells and sounds wonderful this time of year.
If you have never tried ramps... you should try them! There's a very short window (2-4 weeks) towards the beginning of spring when they pop up. They are very pungent, tasting somewhere between garlic and onion with a touch of "wild". You can use them like garlic or spring onions in cooking, slicing them up and eating them raw or adding them to just about any dish cooked (soups, sauces, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches...). Since they operate in such a small time-frame I've been preserving them so I can have the amazing flavor of ramp all year, so far I've made my version of ramp pesto (the ramp leaves, local Gouda, local sunflower oil, and salt and pepper blended in a food processor) and ramp pickles. I will be slicing up the bulb portion and freezing these for the year and am thinking of dabbling in a "local spring veggie & foraged" kim chi, so many possibilities!
If you have never tried ramps... you should try them! There's a very short window (2-4 weeks) towards the beginning of spring when they pop up. They are very pungent, tasting somewhere between garlic and onion with a touch of "wild". You can use them like garlic or spring onions in cooking, slicing them up and eating them raw or adding them to just about any dish cooked (soups, sauces, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches...). Since they operate in such a small time-frame I've been preserving them so I can have the amazing flavor of ramp all year, so far I've made my version of ramp pesto (the ramp leaves, local Gouda, local sunflower oil, and salt and pepper blended in a food processor) and ramp pickles. I will be slicing up the bulb portion and freezing these for the year and am thinking of dabbling in a "local spring veggie & foraged" kim chi, so many possibilities!