[UPDATE BELOW] Ramps are SO IMPORTANT, you guys. But springtime ramp-mania may have taken its toll, because according to a few botanists, the delicate Alliaceae (aka the "God of all vegetables") are being overharvested. James Chamberlain of the United States Forest Service told the Times, "I think we’re having an impact on ramp populations. I would say that we’re overharvesting the plants.” This could be as bad as the great Bitters shortage of 2010!
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Results tagged “ramps”
Is Ramps Mania Causing Ramps Shortage (Or Is That Hyped, Too?)
Cooking With Ramps: Pasta, Cornbread, Cocktails
Now that ramps are starting to show up in markets (soon to be replaced by less weedy crops like asparagus)—so what to do with them? While Dirt Candy's Amanda Cohen wasn't interested in sharing any recipes with us Mario Batali and Elena Balletta (of Counter) were. So if you've been itching to try your hand a ramp pasta, or even better, ramp cornbread, read on!
Restaurants Are Ramping Up For Spring, But One Chef Refuses To Cook Them
Besides pretty flowers peeking out from the ground and slightly warmer weather, there is another way you can tell that spring is starting to spring: Ramps on restaurant menus. Though we still haven't gotten to the markets early enough to see the wild leeks for ourselves (not surprising since it is still a little too early for local ramps to be showing up) they are starting to sprout up on restaurant menus across town.
Spring Means Ramps Invade Greenmarket
Who's excited for Ramp season?! Oh, you don't know what they are? Well, the Ramp (or wild leek) is the culinary harbinger of spring, a combination of garlic and onion flavor in a shallot-like bulb. It's pretty much foodie heroin. They'll supposedly be back Wednesday at Rick Bishop’s Mountain Sweet Berry Farm at the Union Square Greenmarket, and Bishop says this could be one of the best seasons yet, telling Grub Street the combination of warmth and rain is "as if I ordered the weather." Ordering some mints after eating these would also be a good idea.
Where to Score Ramps This Weekend
Times have certainly changed since the gritty and unsentimental 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park chronicled the downward spiral of Bobby and Helen, two crazy-in-love smack addicts. "Needle Park" is the film’s nom de parc for Sherman Square, which just isn’t the heroin hub it used to be. Though Sherman Square and the adjacent Verdi Square were once filled with anxious dealers, now it’s mostly fluffy dogs in neoprene cardigans. Furthermore, young Al Pacino (who starred as Bobby) is now one of the greatest actors in all of film history.
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