Confessions of a Ramp Addict

So, we’ve more or less reached the end of another ramp season, and the question I want to ask is:  are ramps overrated?

…I’m sitting here, staring in disbelief at the first line of my post.  As a matter of fact, I’m tempted to slap myself for what might be blasphemy.  But perhaps instead I should start at the beginning.

I was introduced to ramps long ago, in the first restaurant where I worked at as a stagiaire.  One of the cooks was sautéeing some for a special and gave me a piece to try. I thought it was nice, but nothing to holler about.  The next time I got to work with ramps was a few years later, after graduating from culinary school and getting my first job as a cook.  That was when my attachment to ramps began for some reason I cannot remember.  I think it had something to do with the fact that I’m a huge dork around foods that taste like garlic.

For years after, I’d been a Ramp Advocate, championing its culinary cause to both friends and colleagues.  I always got my hands on ramps and ate them no matter where I was, whether it be in a restaurant I was working in or eating at.  I’d cook them and make sure my fellow cooks who hadn’t seen them before, got a taste.  In short, I was a raging Ramp-aholic.

So what exactly are ramps?  They’re onions, or more specifically, wild leeks.  They are highly seasonal, available in April and May.  Ramps are foraged from forests where they grow in patches.  Also, I should mention here that ramps are possibly in danger of extinction.  Something to think about.

Ramps have a similar texture to a green onion (but they are waaay skinnier) and taste like a mild garlic-leek combination.  Sweet and pungent at the same time.  Essentially, if a baby leek (sweeter, more tender and smaller than a regular leek) and a young green garlic (looks like a red-bulbed scallion, tastes like garlic) were to mate and have a baby, that baby would be a ramp.

Ramps can be prepared in a number of ways, the most popular seeming to be pickling or using them for a pesto.  My personal favorite way to eat them is by tossing them in a little balsamic and extra virgin olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper and then grilling.  I think the best flavor comes out this way.  For myself, sautéed ramps just don’t cut it for some reason.

So enough with the Ramp 411 Ramble.  The motivation to write this post was born out of a conversation I had with a former fellow Sous Chef.  Basically, one day back in February, we were sitting in the office and I had mentioned ramps for whatever reason to which he flatly responded, “Ramps are overrated.”  I nearly jumped out of my chair at the guy and exclaimed, “Are you serious?  They’re so awesome, what’s the matter with you?!”  I had never heard anyone say that before and found myself disarmed, speechless and shocked.  We ended up debating the matter for a time during the weeks that followed. 

Thanks to that conversation, I became totally obsessed with finding ramps to cook at home once the season commenced.  Day after day, I went to my local Whole Foods only to leave empty-handed and disappointed.  I even traveled long distances, going to farmers’ markets to find the elusive vegetable.  No luck.  I had to give up.  Until finally, FINALLY one day I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up a carton of milk, and unexpectedly, I saw the green, lush stalks in a bin. 

In complete disbelief, I ran over, picked up a leafy bunch, held it up to my nose and inhaled the garlicky aroma deeply.  I was practically cradling the bunch of ramps, caressing the tender leaves, as if it were a long lost lover.  There’s not a single shred of doubt in my mind that I looked like a complete lunatic in Whole Foods that day.  

Anyway, I grabbed nearly the entire lot in my excitement, thinking that would be my one and only chance to buy them.  I got several pounds, which is quite a substantial amount of ramp-age, they aren’t exactly heavyweight vegetables.*  Brought them home and carefully tucked them away in the fridge.

The next morning, I filled the sink with the ramps and some cold water.  I lovingly cleaned each and every stalk, peeling off any dirty layers and trimming off the root ends.  I placed the cleaned ramps onto a tray which was covered with paper towels.  After they dried out a little, I wrapped them in paper towels and placed them back in the fridge in their own special drawer.

For several weeks after, I was eating ramps with everything and anything.  I either ate them pickled or grilled, with rice, pasta, vegetables, seafood, you name it.  I totally OD’d on them.  And needless to say, at this point, I feel irrevocably ramped out…

So are ramps worth all the craze?  No doubt they are hard to come by, even when they are in season, which is only like 6-8 weeks out of the year (although one can order them via the internet nowadays, but at a price too high for my taste…).  I’m thinking its only because they are so highly seasonal that they are so overhyped.  If they were available year-round, they wouldn’t be nearly as exciting.  Their flavor profile, afterall, isn’t something totally unique or uncommon.

I don’t know.  I think maybe I expected too much from ramps this year.  Maybe the argument I had with my fellow Sous got me all fired up and filled with doubt.  In retrospect, I believe I needed to prove to myself that ramps were not overrated.  But now I do think that they are overrated.  Somewhat.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love ramps.  I might still pick up a bunch next year, or maybe not, considering the fact that they might altogether disappear from over-harvesting, I’d rather not help speed that up anymore than I probably already have!  To those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to eat a ramp, I say this:  if you have the chance to try them, by all means eat some, but if not, you aren’t missing that much.  I think there are better and more interesting foods out there to be pursued.

* I would not have bought so many ramps if I’d known they were becoming an endangered species at the time.  

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