I pulled these out of my woods and gently cooked them in some clarified butter. I haven't clarified butter in years, thinking that the butter meats had all the flavor, why remove em? But I made baklava for Easter, which required clarifying the butter, and I had some left over so I used it to.. gently cook the ramps. O.M.G. They were heavenly. When I pulled out the left-overs the next day, they were stiff with the hardened butter, but not white like most things with hardened butter all over them. I ate em cold and it was like eating ramp butter. I know that ramps are having a bit of a moment right now and after being consigned to the weird foraged foods category for so long they well deserve a little stroll on the red carpet. I used to dig them up and sell them at farmers market but that was many years ago and it all felt a bit secret societyish. When they're young the bulbs are tender and edible, but as they mature the bulbs become woody and.. well, bulbous (yuck), but the greens are delicious. I just saw a recipe for ramp pesto on rural intelligence: http://www.ruralintelligence.com/index.php/food_section/food_articles_recipes/ I have a woods full of ramps and find that if you wipe them as you pull them up, they are almost completely clean (see picture, straight outta the woods). If you don't wipe them as you pull them, they are a bear to clean. I am going to try the pesto tonight and report back.
