It’s that time of year again…ramps season! The farmer’s market has never looked so appealing. Walls of ramps! Little wild leeks that basically haven’t really been commercially farmed yet.
Ramps grow wild by creeks and trickles of running water, so they’re perfect with folks who have soaker hoses that they run fairly regularly.
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| Bev Eggleston, courtesy of Cynthia Connolly all rights reserved |
Talking with Bev Eggleston at the Dupont Circle farmer’s market on Sunday, I ask him about them. He announced he’d have ramps soon; he normally just sells his incredible pork and other meat products. However, he was saying that a couple of years ago, he had given Cynthia rootstock ramps that he heard she’d planted in her backgarden (see image at the close of this blogpost today).
And lo! They are big and full and ready for prime time now.
There are a myriad things you can do with these gems. The recipes are endless, but I cook them like one might put a scallion directly on the grill after a light olive oil and salt/pepper marinade. These are terrific with grilled meats. Garlicky, but great.
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| Sundays are Ramps Days! |
I find myself wondering what’s up with all these odd vegetables and suchlike showing up at farmers markets and in the forests around the world these days. In the (Manchester) Guardian, they published an article on wild garlic. After having read it, I began to think that Mid-Atlantic ramps might be the same thing.
In her article, the author Karen Homer writes:
“But as welcome as shop-bought offerings of asparagus, young spinach and purple sprouting broccoli are, the real treats don’t come neatly packaged. Right now, anyone fond of a woodland walk has an extra reason to don their wellies: at this time of year wild garlic is prolific.”
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| Courtesy of Cynthia Connolly all rights reserved © 2012 |
- Strap on your boots
- Forego the $4.50 per tiny little bunch
- Find a bog near you
- Scoop up these little gems, and
- Cook those ramps up!
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