In search of Ramps (Allium tricoccum) or the wild leek

I am always on the look out for wild foods to try. We routinely eat lambsquarter normally a prolific weed in the garden and young amaranth also. If you can't beat them eat 'em. Burdock are also tasty if you can manage to dig out the long taproot. So my interest was peaked when the NY Times had an interesting article about wild leeks or ramps. Some say ramps are the best tasting of the onion, leek family. I looked in the boggy areas of a wild part of our park but haven't seen anything resembling them so I have resorted to buying some ramp bulbs from the Ramp Farm. They have some interesting photos here.

You can buy ramp seeds here from Seedman.com, it's under Allium tricoccum. I bought a packet of wild leek seeds too so I hope they sprout. Seedman has some interesting and unsual seeds. I'll have to look into it further when I have more time.

Maybe in a year I'll write if they're worth the effort to grow. Apparently they even have a festival the "Feast of Ramson" in West Virginia and other places.


Here are some interesting websites about ramps.
Wild Man Steve Brill

Wikipedia