WHAT'S IN SEASON: Ramps at Pound Ridge Organics

Clockwise Ramp forest. Late season ramps with full bulbs. Discovered ramps. Ramp compound butter. Lauren Teton and Amy Sowder photos.

By AMY SOWDER

Pad along the damp forest floor in late April and May in the Hudson Valley and you might find a delicacy sprouting up, waiting to punch-up your scrambled eggs, jump into a pesto for pasta, or become one with some butter.

This limited-time treat looks like Lily of the valley leaves, but rub that green leaf and inhale the scent lingering on your fingers: if that scent is pungent, garlicky, and conjures savory satisfaction, you’re onto something. A ramp.

Drawing a cult following bordering on hysteria among chefs, foodies and edible gardeners for the last 15 years, this hallmark of early spring’s culinary treasures is cause for celebration.

“They are fantastic with eggs and potatoes, and you can make a pesto out of them. The bulbs are amazing pickled,” says Donna Simons, owner of Pound Ridge Organics, which carries the ramps starting this weekend through May. Her shop is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, except for Easter Sunday. Launched about 15 years ago, the shop also offers baskets for members of her community supported agriculture program and a teaching kitchen for interactive educational events. For most of ramp season, Simons’ supplier is a woman from Pound Ridge whom she calls “the ramp queen,” but Simons also harvests ramps herself near the end of the season.

For ramps, as well as other kinds of fresh produce, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy, Simons focuses on sourcing from farms that prioritize regenerative farming, biodiversity and ethical practices. Poultry and beef are pasture-raised, and eggs from her farm are rated Certified Animal Welfare Approved. Produce from her farm is grown on organic land, and she is wary of greenwashing the term “local.” For this market, local means food sourced from within 40 miles because it maintains the food’s peak freshness and nutrient density. Overall, the market’s ethos is sustainable, local, traceable, ethically produced food.

And it doesn’t get more local than these ramps, growing wild in Pound Ridge.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ramps, or allium tricoccum, are native to the hardwood forests of eastern North America. They’re sometimes called wild leeks. 

Despite their celebrity status to those who crave anything elusive, ramps need to be harvested carefully — not yanked out of the ground, and only on personal property, with permission from the landowner, Simons says.

The biggest problem, she says, is that people find out where they’re growing in the wild and they don’t know how to sustainably forage them. Don’t forage for ramps in a state park or in a place that’s not your property, Simons says. 

“People don’t consider the plant, and they destroy the plant and destroy the patch. You have to harvest sustainably and watch how much you take,” she says. “At the start of their season, the leaves are very delicate with almost no bulbs, so if you pull out those bulbs, you kill the plant,” she says.

The taste is to die for, however, and Simons can help fans create killer ramp-fueled dishes.

On Saturday, April 26, from 11 a.m. to  2 p.m., Pound Ridge Organics will host a ramp tasting and demo including ramp pesto and ramp butter with recipes. Ingredients to make these delicacies will be at the market through ramp season, expected to last until the end of May.

Ramps are beloved not only for their ephemeral epicurean nature but also because they uniquely crank up the flavor of dishes and add umami with a dollop of sweetness.

This popular woodland crop is in such high demand, it’s created opportunities for landowners to also “farm” ramps in their woodlots, according to the USDA. They call it “forest farming” and it can help alleviate the pressure on the wild ramp populations.

Near the end of the season, Simons will sell some of her ramp bulbs so people can plant their own patches at home. 

“If you haven’t destroyed the plant, it will flower and the seeds can spread. The bulbs multiply underground,” she says. “You plant one bulb, and next season, you’ll have three.”

The rebirth aspect of these fragrant flavor enhancers seems fitting for spring.

For more information, visit poundridgeorganics.com. Pound Ridge Organics is located at 22 Westchester Ave., Pound Ridge.