About two weeks ago I was cutting firewood with my husband on our property when I noticed several patches of bright green plants in the trees nearby. I walked up to the nearest patch, bent down and picked one, and immediately noticed an onion and garlic smell. Because I still couldn’t believe that I was lucky enough to have these on our property, I went to Google for answers. When I still couldn’t believe it, I asked my forager friends on Facebook. It’s not Lilly of the Valley, a very poisonous plant that is often confused to be ramps. No flowers, no thick rubbery leaves... the onion smell was the kicker.
Ramps! Right in my backyard! How lucky am I?
Ramps are one of the most highly sought after forest edibles. They don’t stick around for a very long time, mid-April to mid-May.
Immediately, I began to wonder how I could use these to cook with. I have never eaten them before. Over the next few days, I chopped them up to be used in salads, on grilled walleye, mixed into citrus butter, and sprinkled over my scrambled eggs. When I was tired of going out and picking them to run out so quickly, I began to wonder if there was any way you could use them as a substitute for onion/garlic powder because the taste is so unique. I did some research and found several ways to do so, but adapted them all into my own way of doing so. I am by no means experienced in this, but it was rewarding to try something and have it work out perfectly.
Here is how I prepared and made my own Ramp Powder for a cooking spice.
You will need:
-Something to dig with (I used a large spoon) to get down as far as you can on the ramp roots
-A hunting knife or knife with a sharp blade for cutting the stems out.
-A bowl or some means of carrying your ramps back to where you’ll prepare them.
-A dehydrator (I have a Nesco Food and Jerky)
When harvesting your ramps:
To begin, loosen the soil with your spoon, trying not to disturb any neighboring ramp roots. Use your knife to cut the stem. Cutting the leaves above the ground reduces soil disturbance and allows the plant to re-sprout. Though the bulbs are thick and delicious, it is recommended by several seasoned foragers that they are best left in the ground as harvesting them can be detrimental to the population; only 5-10% of large patches should be harvested sporadically. Replace any dug-up soil so the remaining plants aren’t susceptible to cold or bugs, etc.
Time to prepare your ramps for the dehydrator:
Ramps have a silky membrane that covers the stems. You can find this just below the leaves and pull it down to the end of the stem. I found that using a dry paper towel helped this process speed along nicely.
Once the membranes are peeled off, wash the ramps and get rid of any dirt between the leaves, stem, cut any unwanted/dirty ends off. Layer on paper towel and dry for about 5 minutes.
When dry, cut the stems from the leaves. Stems can be thick on some plants, so I halved them down the middle of the stem to thin them out. When cutting the leaves, I cut them into 1 inch or so pieces.
Now you can place them on your dehydrator. I kept stems and leaves separate on my rack shelves.
I cranked my dehydrator to 160° for about 6 hours until they were crispy dry. **Hot tip: unless you want your home smelling like Shrek’s house, put in your garage or anywhere besides in your kitchen/wherever you dehydrate - ramps have a very strong, pungent smell that will linger!
When done, use a small blender (or coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle, etc) to finely chop and grind the ramps down into powder.
Once complete, store in whatever container you see fit out of direct sunlight - like your spice cabinet! I preferred a Ball Mason Jar.
Congratulations, you now have a wild new spice for your kitchen arsenal!
**Over the course of three days, I filled a medium sized mixing bowl to bring my ramps from the woods to my kitchen. My dehydrator has 5 shelves and this ended up being the perfect amount. My end result yielded just over 1 cup of ramp powder - I added a tablespoon of kosher salt and ground pepper into my mix.**
If you were a fan of Sarah’s Recipe, make sure to head over to her Instagram and let her know you tried it yourself and how they turned out!