Ramps
Allium tricoccum · Allium
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Ramps (Allium tricoccum), also called wild leek, wood leek or ramson in American usage, are a wild spring onion of eastern North American woodlands, prized for a short, intense season each year. Each plant throws up one to three broad, smooth, lily-of-the-valley-like leaves of soft green above a slender, scallion-like white bulb whose stem is washed a deep burgundy-pink. The flavour is a pungent, garlicky-oniony punch — unmistakably allium, yet milder, sweeter and greener than garlic — that has made the ramp one of the most coveted and fiercely foraged plants of the Appalachian and northeastern spring.
Picking a good onedrag
Stiff green leaves, plump bulbYellow, limp, slippery neck
Market freshEveryday bestAnything: grilled whole, pickled, pesto, eggs.
LeavesGreen, the leaf edges just curling
The bulbFirm, the sheath a little loose
Stem and root endPink stem duller, root end dried
Smell of a rubbed leafOnion comes up slowly, after some rubbing
What you get from one
96%
Edible part
About 96%, the scallion refuse figure - only the rootlets and any loose outer sheath come off.
Keeping ittap a temperature
A domestic fridge holds it about 8× longer than the counter.
95-100%
Humidity
Perforated bag, not sealed
Airflow