The Wild Leeks of Spring-time

April 27, 2009 by Martin Yaffee · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Food & Cooking Tips, Living Green, Potatoes & Veggies 

Some call them Ramps, others Ramsons. Folks from the far South and the West of
our country don’t know them at all because they’re a wild spring vegetable
of northern hardwood forests from South Carolina to Ontario.

Ramps are a delightful relative of the onion family (also closely related to the lily family). Their flavor is strong and earthy. They have tones of garlic, shallot and onion, yet have an elusively unique gingery spiciness.

Pioneers made certain to hunt their ramps for the nutrients they offered, being one of the very first green edibles of spring after a long winter of subsistence on stored vegetables. They say that the city of Chicago got its name from the native Potawatami “Checagou” which means “onions” or “skunk”, most likely due to the aroma from the proliferation of ramps that could be collected in the hardwood forests on the shores of Lake Michigan.

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