Wild Ramps

Ramps are a wild onion that sprout in deciduous forests in early spring, when temperatures are still low but there's abundant sunlight. They can take up to 7 years to reach maturity, and the same ramp stalks re-grow new leaves year after year (so the leaves can be harvested without hurting the plant itself). As a result, their famously savory, earthy allium flavor is usually a short-lived seasonal delight. Not anymore.

Who Made It: Burlap & Barrel partner directly with smallholder farmers to source spices that have never been available to the US before and help improve the livelihoods of their partner farmers. Their spices come from farms from the most passionate & knowledgeable spice farmers (and foragers) in the world.

Ingredients: Dried wild ramp leaves (Allium tricoccum)

Process: Minced and dehydrated

Cooking Suggestions
Sprinkle over cooked rice, cheese, pastas and whatever else your heart desires.
Drop a handful into broths, stocks and clear soups.
Toss with fresh veggies before roasting.

Sourcing
Burlap & Barrel's wild ramps were hand-picked in a sugar maple forest in NY's Adirondack mountains in the spring of 2021. Ramps are a wild onion, one of the first forest plants to mature every spring. They need altitude, rich loamy soil, low temperatures, sunlight and space to grow. These conditions exist for only a few weeks in mid-spring — before the ground has warmed up, before the other plants have crowded them out and blocked the sun.

Ramps propagate slowly and can take several years before they mature to their full size. They grow in clusters on the forest floor, especially around the bases of old-growth trees. One of the challenges with ramps is figuring how to harvest this slow-growing wild plant sustainably. Picking only the leaves (and not the bulbs, which will re-grow new leaves every year) and to only harvest a small percentage of plants from each cluster.

The ramp leaves were foraged on the land reserve where New Leaf Tree Syrups tap trees for their excellent maple, birch and other tree syrups. They were hand-picked by a group of H-2A agricultural experts from Jamaica who also tap maple trees for syrup and maintain upstate NY's extensive apple orchards.