A sure sign of spring in our kitchen is the arrival of ramps. This garlicky, spring oniony, leeky member of the onion family arrives freshly picked from the Appalachian trail. Chef took the ramps, blanched and blended them into a fresh, grassy green puree. I watched him eagerly sample his creation. Immediately he smiled and hollered out a jolly, “WhoooHoo!” in response to the mouthful of spicy hot ramp blend lingering in his mouth. After a slight adjustment, we’ve been serving the puree alongside loin of Broken Arrow Ranch Venison with gnocchi and morels in the tasting room.
Ramps are most well known and highly celebrated in West Virginia, the state of the union where ramps grow, well, rampant.
Locals love their ramps and hold festivals in adulation of the veggie every spring. A notable festival is held in Richwood, West Virginia and is sponsored by the National Ramp Association. Yes, there is more than one NRA! In Richwood, ramp aficionados from across the country gather to sample and evaluate the season’s first bounty. The Cosby Ramp Festival began in 1954 and once hosted over 30,000 people. In Cosby, they crown a young woman the “Maid of Ramps” each year. I’d most like to attend the fete titled, “Stinkfest” in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Ramps notoriously carry a pungent odor which inspired Bradford’s citizens to hold Stinkfest Outhouse Races, where teams rig outhouses with wheels, decorate and propel them down roads at high speeds in the name of an onion. Food festivals like these, although quirky, serve as a fantastic way to explore local, fresh and seasonal foods; ramp festivals will be occurring through mid-May.
Anyone doubting the wonder of the ramp should know ramps are currently the subject of cancer prevention and treatment studies because of their high selenium and sulfur content.
Although chef’s puree is consuming most of our ramps, we’ve found a home for some stragglers in the tasting room on Berkswell cheese with roasted garlic puree and garlic chives and also in the bistro alongside raw Hamachi, Candied Ginger and Carrot Puree.
No comments:
Post a Comment