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Ramps: The Topic

hotMeat

By hotMeat
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TicTac

TicTac

Posted
Posted

Transplant them!  You can even slice off the root system and leave a little of the white part and plant 'em.

 

I have transplanted them years in a row now and would say we have about 4-5 patches far in the back - they seem to be doing well and like their setting as we back onto a ravine so its healthy (unadulterated) forest soil I chucked them into.  Mother nature's compost!

 

 

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Nyleve Baar

Nyleve Baar

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Oooo I just made something I think I'm going to really like. Ramp salt. Finely chopped 4 oz. leaves (in food processor), mixed with 1/2 cup coarse French sea salt and laid it out on a parchment covered baking sheet. Dried til crispy just on the side of wood cookstove (can just air dry or use dehydrator too). Then I ground it up a little finer in a coffee grinder. It looks wonderful and smells great. Can't wait to try it.

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rustwood

rustwood

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/21/2021 at 4:43 PM, Nyleve Baar said:

Oooo I just made something I think I'm going to really like. Ramp salt. Finely chopped 4 oz. leaves (in food processor), mixed with 1/2 cup coarse French sea salt and laid it out on a parchment covered baking sheet. Dried til crispy just on the side of wood cookstove (can just air dry or use dehydrator too). Then I ground it up a little finer in a coffee grinder. It looks wonderful and smells great. Can't wait to try it.

 

Have you tried it yet?  I made it yesterday.  It smells good, but I tried it on my eggs this morning and I can't say I could taste it.  Perhaps I need to be a little more heavy handed with it, or I could still be blown out from the smell that filled the house yesterday. 

 

BTW, I ate some sauteed ramps with my eggs yesterday morning, set the ramp salt to dry in the toaster oven, then after a while went out to run an errand.  When I got back into my car, it smelled like a bag of everything bagels but I think it was just my lingering odor (or perhaps my clothes).  I guess the smell coming off of me at least helped with social distancing.   Of course now I want to pick up some poppy or egg bagels and try mixing ramp salt in with the cream cheese.

Edited by rustwood (log)
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Nyleve Baar

Nyleve Baar

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I've tried it a little but I'm really mostly going to save it for winter when I'll need it. The salt I made is pretty strong but I can't say I would be able to tell it's ramps and not something else. I unintentionally grow a lot of garlic chives and it seems very similar. I can probably make a batch of salt with that and it would taste almost the same. Will be nice to have in January when I need to remember spring.

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Paul Bacino

Paul Bacino

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On 5/3/2021 at 9:02 PM, Nyleve Baar said:

I've tried it a little but I'm really mostly going to save it for winter when I'll need it. The salt I made is pretty strong but I can't say I would be able to tell it's ramps and not something else. I unintentionally grow a lot of garlic chives and it seems very similar. I can probably make a batch of salt with that and it would taste almost the same. Will be nice to have in January when I need to remember spring.

Wonder if u dehydrated them and make a Ramp Powder?  

Its good to have Morels

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TicTac

TicTac

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16 hours ago, Paul Bacino said:

Wonder if u dehydrated them and make a Ramp Powder?  

Tried this a couple years ago, still have some in the cupboard if you want to sample!  Needless to say it was not a huge success.  Much of the flavours and nuances were lost in the drying process. 

 

After many years of trial and error, the best ways to preserve them are to freeze fresh/whole, mortar and pestle olive oil w/ salt, pickled bulbs. 

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heidih

heidih

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On the lack of flavor in the dried - I noticed a similar thing with the Trader Joes Onion Salt my stepmother picked up. The description is of various alliums and it smells oniony but taste - nope.

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weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted

My first batch of this season...

 

image.thumb.jpeg.da51c32f7a798e15399de0c8957938a6.jpeg

 

Ramp pesto. Blanched the ramp leaves, toasted the pine nuts, and into the food processor with good extra virgin olive oil, s & p. Cheese gets added at service, just because I find it better to add cheese at service.

 

Re: Dried - this product is pretty good...

 

image.thumb.png.1d57a2167b1043500bf56eed1704c992.png

 

https://www.burlapandbarrel.com/products/wild-ramps

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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Smithy

Smithy

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3 hours ago, weinoo said:

My first batch of this season...

 

image.thumb.jpeg.da51c32f7a798e15399de0c8957938a6.jpeg

 

Ramp pesto. Blanched the ramp leaves, toasted the pine nuts, and into the food processor with good extra virgin olive oil, s & p. Cheese gets added at service, just because I find it better to add cheese at service.

 

 

I'll have to try that pesto. I was quite disappointed by the ramp oil and ramp butter I made last year. I finally dumped the oil (too bitter, too overwhelming on the ramp flavor) but I may still have some of that butter hanging around in the refrigerator. I love the flavor of ramps, and the season is so short! My ramp patch is flourishing as I write this, and I'd like to do something with it other than simply including chunks of ramps in pasta with prosciutto and asparagus.

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Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
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weinoo

weinoo

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12 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

I'll have to try that pesto. I was quite disappointed by the ramp oil and ramp butter I made last year. I finally dumped the oil (too bitter, too overwhelming on the ramp flavor) but I may still have some of that butter hanging around in the refrigerator. I love the flavor of ramps, and the season is so short! My ramp patch is flourishing as I write this, and I'd like to do something with it other than simply including chunks of ramps in pasta with prosciutto and asparagus.

 

Are you blanching the ramps before making the butter or oil? That may help. As well as using fewer ramps...like 100 grams is plenty for a half kilo of butter, in my opinion.

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

Tasty Travails - My Blog

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Was it you baby...or just a Brilliant Disguise?

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Smithy

Smithy

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1 minute ago, weinoo said:

 

Are you blanching the ramps before making the butter or oil? That may help. As well as using fewer ramps...like 100 grams is plenty for a half kilo of butter, in my opinion.

 

I don't think I blanched them. I'll be sure to do so this time around. Thanks for the quantity information.

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Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
Host, eG Forums - nsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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gfweb

gfweb

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Re ramps powder. I can't understand why a volatile taste compound wouldn't get lost in the  drying process.  Making an infused oil might preserve it better (cavaet botulism etc etc).

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TicTac

TicTac

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Ramps do not hold their true flavour when dried, or heated.

 

I have done many experiments, drying, pickling, salting, curing, preserving, you name it - the best way to retain the original flavour is to mortar and pestle some leaves into an oil.  Bulbs have too much water and tend to throw the oil off faster.  Save those for cooking, or better yet, pickling.

 

I enjoy cooked ramps, but they get very subtle in their pronounced onion profiles and take on a much sweeter note.  Great for a potato or asparagus soup. 

 

The transplants on our ravine are doing well - sadly however; I no long eat onions/garlic so friends are always happy to leave with a few gifts.

 

 

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dans

dans

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I’m really disappointed. Earthy.com, my supplier for ramps and fresh motels was bought out. The new companies web site only list dried mushrooms and no ramps. 

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gfweb

gfweb

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My ramps patches are dwindled.  I lost one when we cut down a big tree and the other has so few its pointless to harvest them.

 

I wonder, would we value ramps so much if they were in the store every week all year? Ramps and paw paws are the only two hyper-seasonal foods we have in the Northeast.

Edited by gfweb (log)
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Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

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12 hours ago, gfweb said:

I wonder, would we value ramps so much if they were in the store every week all year? Ramps and paw paws are the only two hyper-seasonal foods we have in the Northeast.

I buy scallions, garlic and chives every shopping trip. I've only had ramps once, but I would buy them routinely if they were available. Of course here in CA they don't exist, seasonally or otherwise. There's another seasonal treat you have in the northeast: fresh apple cider and apple cider doughnuts.

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SLB

SLB

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Posted

I got two bunches yesterday at the farmer's market, 6 bucks apiece.  I'm planning to sub in one bunch for a leek meatball that I make.  As written, the recipe calls for 8-10 leeks per pound of ground beef, so it's supposed to be, uh, highly flavored, and I'm hoping the ramps will work.  

 

The other bunch I'm going to use in Diana Henry's beef 'n green soup, again instead of leeks.

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