The Adventures of Ramp Foraging
There are few greetings more satisfying than that of the sweet smelling, bright green, new growth of a forest in spring. Money can’t buy the therapeutic feeling of swapping your boots from winter to hiking and stepping outside for that first time!
Today was met with a purpose. The first, and most important, was to cleanse my mind and body of winter and stretch my legs on those familiar hills of nature! What a winter we’ve had, and anyone that spends time in an office in addition to your typical seasonal restraints, understands the feeling (or should!!!-get outside!). My second excuse, I mean purpose, for spending the day outside was to find a culinary challenge of the spring’s ingredient choosing-ramps. Because consumption of these plants was the end goal, I did some brushing up on my leaf recognition before heading out. Be careful here because the ramp looks very similar to the Lily of the Valley, which is not a plant you want to eat!
There are many research articles and information available on where to best find ramps, from type of soil to trees found overhead. I probably should provide some great tips and tricks for the perfect hunting experience (please reference links in site for those more knowledgeable than me), but as I shamelessly disclosed in my introduction, I’m along for the learning experience as well, not necessarily acting as the voice of wisdom, although I promise to pass on tidbits gathered along the way!
For this excursion, I followed the basic guideline and choose a place that was on a hill and half-shaded, had an abundance of trees of many varieties, and was located close to water, hopefully providing rich soil. In this particular neck of the woods, instead of looking specifically upward toward the trees for guidance, I would advise looking down, to avoid stepping on these happy little newcomers. If you are in the right place during the correct season, you should not have a difficult time finding ramps, and with no exception, I was met with hundred of them!
If you are new to ramp foraging, it would also be important to familiarize yourself with best practice of sustainable harvesting. While this could bring up a lot of controversial discussion, to provide a framework, a basic understanding and respect of nature is a must-if there are only a few ramps, move on to another location. When you do find a large patch, start in the middle, do not take the entire plant every time, and do not be selfish here. While a huge harvest looks great for bragging rights on your social media, it is much more responsible to take just what you plan to use, and leave the option for another adventure if needed!
Like a lot of plants when foraging, once you find the first, it seems that the rest just pop out at you easily, aided in the fact that you now know exactly what you are looking for. The leaves are the tell here, and key in separating the ramp from the Lily of the Valley. For me, I found the quicker technique was to look for the dark purple lower stem. This time of year, with so much of the forest comprised of green and brown, the purple color seemed to really jump out! As the weeks progress, ramps become harder to find, not just because of their own life cycle, but because of the additional plants and colors, giving ramps a very short window to easily forage.
The following recipes are the week’s finished creations. As always, I welcome any and all feedback and suggestions! I have shared these on my website and also social media, and would be honored if you pass along as you see fit. But mostly, I hope you enjoy eating some really great food!
Ramp and Shiitake Mushroom Soup
Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Ramp Soup
Ramp and Asparagus Fried Cauliflower Rice
*From the time of playing with these recipes to this blog post, I have received a lot of feedback (thank you!!) and stories of ramps experiences. For you now, for my reference later, and for anyone who wants to share between now and then, I’d like to explore the following in next year’s ramp season: pickling, BBQ, compound butter, and vinaigrettes.
I’m glad to have you join me on this journey and I’m excited to eat my way through the summer together! If all I have to show this falls ends up being a sunburn and a few extra pounds, I will still consider this one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve done in a long time!
Thank you for tagging along,
Hannah (your fearless culinary visionnaire)
