Photo and article by Donna Iverson Every spring, a friend and I begin scouring the woods. He’s on the lookout for morels and I’m scanning the ground for ramps. This year, neither of us was successful. Well, not entirely unsuccessful. Much to my delight, I recently found a vendor at the farmers market selling ramps. Hannah Bonthuts from Ravenna was selling freshly picked ramps and homemade ramp butter. She said she finds wild ramps in swampy areas near woods. Ramps are wild leaks (Allium Tricoccum). Their closest relatives are wild garlic and wild onion. Native to the Upper Midwest, New England and Canada, ramps can be found in rich moist soil in deciduous forests. Identify ramps by their dagger-shaped leaves that are about 8 to 12 inches long and 1 to 3 inches wide with a bulb in the ground. Both the bulb and the leaves are edible and smell like onions. Once harvested or purchased, ramps can be used in a variety of dishes. For example, add them to salads, tacos, pizza and egg dishes. My cousin recommends macerating them and soaking them before eating. Myself, I add them to vegetable stock to make soup. Ramps are best harvested in spring and early summer before flowering. Conservationists recommend that you take only one leaf per plant and leave the bulb. Ramps are becoming scarcer and scarcer across the Midwest including in Michigan. Ramps grow slowly and take a long time to recover. In fact, ramps take seven years to grow to maturity and two years to germinate from seed. For more information on foraging, check out: https://www.cleannorth.org/?s=Ramps
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