03/18/2023
The Appalachian spring tonic! Ramps or “wild leeks” have a uniquely pungent onion-garlic taste and are only available for a few short weeks in early spring. They just so happen to be my absolute favorite food and this is the most exciting time of the year for me as a forager.
There use to be a stigma associated with poor Appalachian people who would forage and consume ramps. I even hear stories today about folks who use to get sent home from a one-room schoolhouse because they smelled like the ramps they had eaten the night before. Poor or not, those people knew what was up.
Ramps are one of the first fresh edible things that come up out of the ground in early spring before the tree cover emerges. Imagine spending winters living off of canned goods and things you would have stored away in the pantry and then biting into one of these things. It’s fresh. It awakens your body. It bites. It cures. It lingers.
Easily over harvested without care, ramp patches are kept secret and close as not to allow someone coming in and completely decimating an entire patch. I only consume the leaves of the ramp and leave the bulbs in the ground. There’s plenty of punch in the leaves without destroying the whole plant that takes 7 years to mature from seed.
Even now I can feel my body buzzing from eating them. It makes me feel alive! I welcome ramp season 2023! I am so lucky to live in the Appalachian mountains!
