Ramps (wild leeks) and Bucks County

I first heard about ramps, or wild leeks, from an old coal miner friend of mine from West Virginia named Arnett.   Arnett lived near my former office in Quakertown.   Some years ago, in early Spring, he walked into my office with a big grin and two bags of smelly plants.   In his inimitable thick drawl he asked me, “do you know what these are, Philip?  These are ramps!”  I asked him what he did with them.  “Well, we cook ‘em with potatoes in bacon fat and have big ramp feeds!”  “Where did you get them,” I asked politely.  “Back by the railroad tracks.  The woods is thick with ‘em.”  He held out a bag for me to take. “You know in West Virginia we eat ramps as a ‘spring tonic’.”  Ok, I thought. 

There are a few times in my adult life when Bucks County locals have handed me a local delicacy like a freshly killed Canada goose or what purported to be a chanterelle mushroom.   I used to feel slightly conflicted about eating something that doesn’t come from a grocery store.  This is a hang up from growing up in the 70s when vegetables were something that came frozen in a bag and corned beef in a can counted as meat.

I thought my friend Arnett was some kinda whacked out Southern fried Euell Gibbons. I took the bag of ramps home with me and my car smelled like an Italian locker room.  I have to say, my expectations about how they might taste was pretty low at that point. 

                I cooked up some sweet potatoes and added in some cleaned and chopped ramps and cooked them up.  OH MY GOODNESS!  What a revelation!  The ramps were sweet and flavorful.  I was also pleasantly surprised that they DID have a tonic effect.  I didn’t even know what that meant, but the ramps just give you energy and clean out the winter blues.  That is some tasty tonic.

                Every Spring, when the last snowfall has not quite melted, I go to my secret spots around Bucks County and gather ramps.  I invite my friends over for a ramp feed.   Try ramps sometime. They go well with goose and chanterelles too!