Once a year, foragers and chefs unite in the herbaceous, springtime frenzy that is fiddlehead and ramp season. Fiddleheads, the curled, young tips of certain ferns, have always been a crop you could cultivate at home, but ramps have remained elusive in the domain of woodland forests.
Why Chefs Love Ramps
Photo: Claire Lower
These soft alliums have broader leaves than their brethren; garlic, leeks, green onions and shallots, and impart an inviting garlic flavor that’s so gentle, you can wrap them around scallops. They’re not as strong as conventional garlic, so you can use them with wild abandon, and don’t have to wait for them to mellow out. They aren’t as toothy as leeks, with less stringiness, and you can eat the entire plant, including the greens. They don’t possess the size or pungency of shallots, and they have a sweetness that scallions lack.
Ramps are, simply, a lovely way to make a member of the onion family the main character, which you don’t see often, unless you’re in an Outback Steakhouse. They’re usually sautéed, which turns them into a kind of silky vegetable pasta. You can spiral them around a fork for a mouthful of buttery bliss. Because they’re still an allium, they complement almost any protein.
As a wild onion, the rarity certainly contributes to the ramp’s prized status. But when you think about it, there’s nothing earth shattering about them that explains the near mythological status they’ve cultivated in farmer’s market culture.
Why Ramp Foraging is Problematic
Ramps grow in patches under specific conditions. They’re woodland natives, and they like to have a few streams nearby. They enjoy partial shade, most reliably under hardwoods, particularly maples.
Much like in mushroom foraging, ramp hunters tend to be very private about the patches they find, with good reason. As with all things humans like to ruin, over-foraging ramps has become a huge problem. Anytime we attach a monetary value to a commodity, and people become desperate or unscrupulous, they’ll take without considering how short-sighted their actions are.
Think of available ramps like interest in a bank. In order for interest to continue growing, you have to leave most of the principle in the account. For ramps to sustain themselves, creating new ramps each year, you have to leave most of the patch in place.
It doesn’t help that ramps take so long to reach edible stages, three years by all accounts. Good practice is considered only taking leaves, sparingly, and if you must take bulbs, to be incredibly stingy, and ensure you do not disturb the whole plant in doing so. Roots can easily be damaged, and it can take up to twenty years for a patch to recover.
How to Grow Ramps at Home
The good news is that you can save the wild patches by growing ramps at home, if you have the right conditions. Start by finding out what zone you’re in, ramps grow in hardiness zones 3-7.
Purchase ramps from ethical growers, who are growing from seed, rather than taking ramps from the wild. They’ll arrive as separate ramps, rather than a clump, which is what you’d get if you harvested them in the wild. Make sure to plant them immediately, they can survive in your fridge for a few days, but you want them in the ground as soon as possible.
Again, you’ll want to plant them under a tree, ideally hardwood, ideally deciduous, in a partially shaded space, into well mulched, organically rich, moist ground. If you’re planning for next year, consider prepping the area with wood chips now, so they have time to break down over a season and grow mycelium.
Plant the ramps four to six inches apart, deep enough so that the white of the plant is covered. You can achieve this by using a piece of PVC pipe to create holes the depth you need, then just drop in a ramp, and lightly fill in the hole with soil.
Keeping these specimens moist and in shade/part-shade is what will ensure their success.
When its time to harvest, remember the same rules apply to your home garden: only take twenty five percent of your ramps each year. The ramps should continue to fill in and multiply, creating a sustainable supply in your yard.
It should be noted you can also grow them yourself from seed. It is a three-year long process that I, myself, never intend to undertake, because as much as I love ramps, I also love knowing I can leave the house over the next three years without abandoning my crop.
Even with their three year cycle, if you start with seed, they are no more of an investment than asparagus beds, and with, arguably a much higher reward. You can buy asparagus year round. You’ll likely be the only person you know with your ramp patch.
