Follow up on Wild leeks aka Ramps

I sent a check to the Ramp Farm for some ramp bulbs intending to plant them but Mr. Facemire, the owner emailed a note saying the bulbs were already unavailable as noted on their website. The ramps for eating were still being sold until the end of April so I asked if it was possible to order ramps with soil and roots attached and he was kind enough to send them to me that way and even mentioned that the ramps would grow if I planted them. Two bunches of ramps arrived very quickly by priority mail. One of the photos shows the newly planted ramps. If you look carefully at the detailed photo you can see that there are rhizomes which a couple of the ramps are attached to. I cut off the eating bulb part a little higher than I normally would thinking that I could plant the rhizomes like the rhizomes of irises etc. Will see if this works.

We ate the other half of the order cooking the leaves and all in some olive oil with portobello mushrooms and a little fake bacon. The ramps were delicious! Someone said that the ramps were the best tasting of the onion family (alliums) and I concur. The flavor was subtle but definitely oniony and insistent. I thought the portobellos would overpower the ramps but not so. It held up well and nicely complemented the mushrooms.

So I can't wait for next Spring when I hope the newly planted ramps are ready and I've already planted the seeds I bought previously so I hope these will sprout for future meals. Oh and I hope the rhizomes sprout too.

If you'd like to try some, I believe the Ramp Farm still has some until the end of the month but you'll have to send the check in post haste as they don't take online orders.