The stinky springtime treasure of Appalachia is popping up on my hillside! I planted them three years ago. Depressing that it had to snow right after the ramps came up, but it won’t hurt ’em. They’re hardy Appalachian ramps. They’re survivors. I’m still not harvesting any. I’m waiting for them to spread. Maybe in a few more years….. I’ve got them planted in a number of spots on the hillside behind our house. I check on them every spring just to say hello.
See how to find and grow your own ramps here. See my “garden” of ramps here, and I have a few recipes with ramps here.
Ramps!
Mar
28
28
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susan says:
Ramps sound great, but do they grow up north? I live in Michigan and have never seen them. Can you get starter ramsp through any seed catalog? I have several woodland areas on our property that I could plant.
On March 28, 2011 at 7:24 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
susan, I don’t know if they grow up there or not, but you can start ramps from ramps–by cutting off the bottoms and planting them. That’s how I planted mine. You can order ramps online.
On March 28, 2011 at 7:26 am
Joyce says:
Suzanne I am glad your ramps are back. We didn’t have any here, but we have bought bunches of ramps from folks along the road when the season gets started. We ate a few and planted the rest. Now the patches seem to be spreading. Can’t wait to have a few with fried potatoes.
On March 28, 2011 at 8:12 am
Joy (from Illinois) says:
I always feel so fairy-tale-ish when you talk about ramps since I believe that is the out-of-season vegetable that the pregnant woman craves from the witches garden (and had to give up her baby to be raised by the witch). I always kind of wondered what a “ramp” was til your posting. They sound interesting but I’d have to try some to see if it was worth sending my husband into a witch’s garden because of a craving for them. :hungry:
On March 28, 2011 at 9:27 am
debby68 says:
Sounds so yummy. I have heard tales of their tastiness. My husbands granny was from WVA. Do they grow well if transplated in Missouri?
On March 28, 2011 at 9:54 am
Connie from Ohio says:
My Mom used to fry them with potatoes and she would also chop them very fine and mix them with ground beef and grill them. I don’t care for ramps but the rest of the family did.
On March 28, 2011 at 10:02 am
Kristen E says:
Ramps DO grow in Michigan, mostly in the same northern forests where you’ll find morels. They’re called “wild leeks” up here and they’re DELICIOUS! 🙂
On March 28, 2011 at 10:35 am
Ramona says:
I wish we had them here so I could try them.
On March 28, 2011 at 10:42 am
marymac says:
I am so jealous… they are not yet up, but soon they will be up here in Ohio. Probably are in Southern Ohio, but I can wait I guess. this year i may try to make pickled Ramps. A friend of mine made some last year , mostly from the stem end and a little from the leaf too, and boy were they good. My Mother in law canned them one year when they picked bushels of them. Those were some of the best Ramps EVER!! Canning them gave them a sweetness you don’t get any other way.
On March 28, 2011 at 10:46 am
Monique says:
Great. I just ordered some. I haven’t seen any in our woods in Missouri….hope they take. I love leeks…and garlic
On March 28, 2011 at 10:47 am
BuckeyeGirl says:
They grow in norther Ohio, there used to be a TON of them in the woods at the grade school I went to way back when. I’m sure they’re all gone now. Those woods smelled like a giant onion patch in the spring!!! We used to pull them up and stuff them down the back of kids’ coats and the whole school reeked of it. …yes, I got in a LOT of trouble for it! We weren’t supposed to go in the woods, but of course I was such a wood creature, I always found a way to sneak past the playground monitors. The nuns just didn’t terrify me the way they did the other kids. I was pretty sure none of them had rubber hoses in the pockets of their habits (that was the story) and being sent to say extra prayers didn’t frighten me either. I was ok with extra time in a pew. Father Blair would lecture me about disobeying, and tell me that getting along with rules was better than getting around them in the long run… and then laugh at me and tell stories. It was actually pretty effective, I decided he knew a thing or two… I’d wait till after school, which was not against the rules mostly, run to the woods (we didn’t live far) then yank up a bunch and hide them near the corner of the old garage and the next day at recess, pass them out to everyone. >.> I should have taken them home to cook!
On March 28, 2011 at 11:04 am
AnnieB says:
@susan: Ramps grow in the Pocono Mountains of NE Pennsylvania. I’m sure they’d grow in Michigan! Oh I can’t wait to get some. I love to slow cook the bulbs in olive oil until they’re golden. Oh, my mouth is watering!
On March 28, 2011 at 11:16 am
Barbee' says:
They surely are healthy looking.
On March 28, 2011 at 11:48 am
Window On The Prairie says:
Ummmm…. don’t mean to be dense here, but what are ramps???
Suzanne
On March 28, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
Ramps are wild leeks. If you click on the links in the post, there’s more info with how you can grow them etc.
On March 28, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Katharine says:
They grow here in Centeral Ontario, Canada. I haven’t heard of them called ramps before, we call them wild leeks. I make a wild leek, potatoe, bacon and cheese soup with them. Ohhhh sooooo good. But you need strong breath mints afterwards. My mom remembers eating them when she was a child. She recalls if she ate them on her way to school her Teacher would send home because of the strong smell ha ha.
On March 28, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Lindsay says:
Mmm ramps! I’m glad yours are popping up, you’ve been looking forward to them! I don’t even remember the last time I had ’em. Sure are tasty though! :sun:
On March 28, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Kristi says:
I didn’t know what they looked like, thanks for the picture. I think I have them growing at the edge of my yard?! I wonder if there is anything in the wild that looks like them, you know, that is poisionous? I suppose I could just pull one, and, if it smells strong, it probably is Ramps!! 😀
On March 29, 2011 at 6:53 am
Sheila Z says:
Central NY here and we call them wild leeks. Used to eat tons of them when I was a kid. Don’t even know where a good patch is growing any more. The place we picked them every year is a trailer park now.
On March 29, 2011 at 6:58 pm