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How to Harvest Ramps | How to Cook with Ramps

Some people know them as Ramps, while others call them Leeks or Wild Leeks. I grew up calling them leeks, but now that I'm an adult, it is confusing because these are very different from the leeks you buy in the grocery store! Wild leeks have a short season, but the flavor is so good that I look forward to cooking with them every Spring!

handful of wild leeks dug and laying on the ground

The Flavor

Ramps look like a wide-leaf scallion, but they taste like a combination of onion and garlic. Both the white 'onion' end and the green tops are edible. Just like scallions, the bulb is stronger in flavor than the leaves. The flavor is known to stick with you even more so than onion and garlic. If you decide to eat ramps, make sure everyone in your household eats them. :-)


Where Do Ramps Grow?

Ramps grow in deciduous forests in Eastern North America. They need the rich soil that occurs when autumn leaves naturally compost into the soil year after year. Whenever I have found ramps in the woods, it is always on a hill facing South/South-East. As soon as the snow melts, ramps start popping up.