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.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this content.

Tags:

Speak Your Mind

Tell us what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Weight Loss Tip of the Day
    • Stay away from all things fried. If it is breaded, it is better that it is baked. Fried foods are immersed in fat and oil. Even after the excess has oil has been drained away, there is still oil absorbed into the food item itself.
  • Important Legal Message

    You may have heard about several companies offering "Free Trial Memberships" then charging your credit card right away or never letting you "opt out" of their program. This is unscrupulous and illegal.

    We do not do that, and have never done it. In fact, we offer our trial memberships only through the Paypal Payment system.

    With Paypal:

    1. We do not have access to your credit card info.

    2. You have total control over when you want to cancel right in your Paypal account.

    We hope this helps alleviate any fears you may have about trying our program.