Ramps

“A few weeks ago when I was in West Virginia.....Otter Creek Wilderness.....there were lots of little ramps pokin' up through the snow!

Any of you guys ever throw some of that in you cooking?”

“What are ramps? I've chopped up wild onions before. They're good.”

“Yeah, what are ramps?”

“Here's some..

”

“Are they like carrots or what?”

“Evidenlty Tom has been smoking some ramps.”

“Is that what they called 'em in your day, Bacpac? HeHeHe!”

“I NEVER eat ramps. The salient feature of ramps is the smell. The Menominee Indians called it "pikwute sikakushia": the skunk. There were VERY STRONG WOMEN IN MY FAMILY who did not like the odor. Also, if you ate ramps and went to school, they SENT YOU HOME BECAUSE OF THE ODOR. There were a lot of authoritarians in the school, so you didn't do a lot of RAMP EATING. Someone might get up the guts to do it once, but they didn't do it twice. THE ODOR was the issue.”

“Marvin: Shouldn't be a problem with this crew. Check on the I ate a pound of beef jerky thread!”

“Or don't check it out. It was bizarre.”

“I have taco breath.

Anyone have a mint?”

“I have some of those cute new Victoria's Secret mints. They are lip shaped. You should go get a tin of them Bacpac. I bet you'd be a real hit pulling those out.”

“I suspect ramps are another word for wild garlic. I'll check it out in my Euell Gibbons. Lots of it around here and some of our backwoods kids bring it to school in jars to sell. It's a cottage industry like fiddlehead ferns in this part of the world.”

“LMAO!! that's a funny picture, newgirl :-D but since he's you, he already has them! oh wait, he's Tarpie too...this picture just gets stranger and stranger...”

“Gremlin...last weekend i saw tons of fresh fiddleheads....you can eat them right?...I've heard of pple collecting them...what for?..i just can't remember what all you can do with them”

“Sounds like bacpac needs a suppository.

A bit of "a$$ breath"?



http://www.wild-harvest.com/pages/ramp.htm

Ramps are the same plant as Wild Leeks.
In the Appalachians they are called ramps and Northern Michigan, wild leeks.

I've heard that in WVa kids can be sent home for reeking of ramps.

Apparently the stank is hard to shake if you eat enough of it.

I've chopped up a little and added it to my beans and rice or whatever.....quite tasty.


Aero-
I don't know what the hell that picture is, but it ain't ramps.”

“The mystery is solved! I've never cooked w/ leeks of any kind, so I can't help Tom. It sounds like you have found some good recipes already anyway.”

“OPIE-

There's nothing like sautéed fiddlehead ferns. Just don't eat the ferns after they've unrolled.”

“Tom! The only other pictures of ramps that came up in my search had kids skateboarding off them!”

“When I was in Vermont I was told that fiddleheads were eaten by poor rural people scrounging.

Now it seems to be an expensive restaurant item.”

“Several years ago an annual ramp eating contest was started in Cosby, TN. One winner was later asked if there were any aftereffects. He replied that he did not have any problem, but that his wife would not sleep in the same room with him that night!

Fresh ramps taste great.”

“Yep use to all the time. My wife is form WVa and there is a festival every year. They are pretty good kind of like a wild onion but different. The only defense to the small is eating them too that way you don’t notice it as bad. If you think the smell is bad that night weight to the next day if you work where you will do a lot of sweating. The smell just oozes from the skin.”

“Why do ramps have such a stank and other leek varities don't? I never cook w/ leeks, but I ate them alot in Holland. They didn't smell at all.”

“GSMP just banned ramp collecting in the park.

I've seen them but never tried them. I heard they are good but very strong.”

“My old ramp was 16' wide, 6' tall having 9'radius transitions, and 16' of flat inbetween.”

“Sweet. Pool coping or steel pipe?
Hopefully not PVC.

I had a mini ramp with a tombstone. 16 wide 6.5 tall 8 or 10 of flat can't remember the transitions”

“Now we are obviously talking about something completely different. Do we have some skaters in our midst?”

“No, I believe they are boarders.”

“Oh! Sorry about that, I get confused.”

“There's a GIF of Buddur on Phil's photo page if you want to check it out.”

“PVC was all I could scrap...it worked ok, of course I was replacing broken sections, but it worked. My ramp also had tombstones on both sides for pumping. I worked at a lumber mill building roof trusses and salvaged a buttload of scraps and whatnot to build the ramp.”

“Man those things look strange!

8o”

“I had an Uncle in NC with a degree in botany. He always loved to show us mushrooms, sasafrass, ramps, wild strawberries, mint, etc. He actually did his masters thesis on mint in the 40's

Memories. I miss uncle Charlie.

Anyway. They are very very spice, like extra spicy spring onions.”

“We had a mini-half growing up, 5' high, 16' wide. Killer ramp. Glad to hear some of you are former rats also (or perhaps not former)!”

“I tried to cook fiddleheads last spring for a bunch of TTers. I tried them first and spit them out immediately. Didn't ask anyone else if they wanted any. I thought they were supposed to taste like asparagus!!! I must not have done it right.”

“Leak Soup?

Isn't that the stuff Marvin was drinking?”

“Leaking in the soup sounds like something Gentle Ben would do.

But LEEKS are a different story.”

“You know, we have a wild onion here in KY that grows as a common yard weed. I have never heard them called ramps but do you suppose they are the same thing? Most everyone around here calls them chives (though they are not). I've never tried eating them and They only last year made an attempt to encroach upon my yard. They smell strongly enough whenever the neighbors mow, I couldn't imagine that on anyone's breath.

Anyone read the book Holes? Interesting wild onion usage in that one. Sounds just like what you are describing with the ramps.”

“Look at the "www.wild-harvest.com" page and you will see photos of ramps.

They generally have two leaves that grow to about six inches long and one inch wide with a fat little bulb.”

“Thanks for the url! Nope, that ain't them. These look just like garlic but only develop one bulb underground like a green onion.”

“I think I've seen them.

Maybe its onion grass with a long thin "leaf" that is more round than flat like a leaf.

I remember kids pullin' those up and whippin' each other.....nice kids!”

“
Picture of Wild Leeks, Morel Mushrooms & Fiddleheads
The Grand Trio of Spring is at the bottom of the page.”

“I've never eaten them myself, but from what Trail Artist tells me, the fiddlehead is simply the young fern before it opens. Some ferns are better than others. Ostrich fern fiddleheads are supposed to be the best.”

“Leak soup is really sic, Tom.”

“marmot beat me too it. Ostrich ferns are the ones to use and they should be cooked first or they are somewhat bitter. I don't know if any others are particularly good.”

“Tilt is so punny today! Oh wait, he's punny everyday. Nevermind.”