From the Spring Foraging Cookbook: Ramps (Allium tricoccum)

From the Spring Foraging Cookbook: Ramps (Allium tricoccum)

Ramps are one of the first wild edibles that grow in my region in early spring. Ramps are also my favorite of all wild vegetables! Unfortunately, not only is the Ramp season short, but they grow only in specific conditions. The time to harvest Ramps here, is around Easter.

Read more:
https://judsoncarroll.substack.com/p/from-the-spring-foraging-cookbook-96f

Thanks for sharing!

Some people cut ramp bulbs in half, eat the top, and then replant the bottoms too. I have been thinking that picking bulbs and then replanting 1/3 of what you pick in a regenerating or denuded woodland seems like a good solution for the sustainability. Some patches are very dense and something called "ramp kill" apparently happens, where the ramps at the center slowly die out from overcrowding, like what will happen to all alliums if you don't harvest, thin, or plant out now and then. But clearly ramps are much more slow growing.

Fortunately in my region, ramps are still all over the forests, especially up in the mountains where the land hasn't been cleared for agriculture or pasture. There are some regions in the mountains where ramps stretch as far as the eye can see. They are getting less common due to people not being thoughtful about harvesting, and clearing/logging without paying attention, but still amazing to see. I even saw a four pronged ginseng in one of those logged areas... logging which happened to coincide perfectly with a favorite black morel patch!

M Ljin wrote:Thanks for sharing!

Some people cut ramp bulbs in half, eat the top, and then replant the bottoms too. I have been thinking that picking bulbs and then replanting 1/3 of what you pick in a regenerating or denuded woodland seems like a good solution for the sustainability. Some patches are very dense and something called "ramp kill" apparently happens, where the ramps at the center slowly die out from overcrowding, like what will happen to all alliums if you don't harvest, thin, or plant out now and then. But clearly ramps are much more slow growing.

Fortunately in my region, ramps are still all over the forests, especially up in the mountains where the land hasn't been cleared for agriculture or pasture. There are some regions in the mountains where ramps stretch as far as the eye can see. They are getting less common due to people not being thoughtful about harvesting, and clearing/logging without paying attention, but still amazing to see. I even saw a four leafed ginseng in one of those logged areas... logging which happened to coincide perfectly with a favorite black morel patch!

And THAT, is why we LOVE foraging!  I would rather go to the woods to harvest food than do anything else. I had a very pretty girlfriend once who asked me to be normal.... I chose the woods.