ramps – Jay's Real Estate Blog

By Susan Guynn
News-Post Staff

SATURDAY WAS THE 11th annual Ramp Cook Off at Deep Creek Lake State Park in Garrett County. It’s a competition where participants prepare their tastiest dish using ramps — fried, grilled, saut?ed or raw.

I’ve never been to this event, but I do have a fondness for ramps. They grow wild in the eastern U.S., in the woodlands from the Carolinas to Canada. On a good weekend, dinner at the Guynn house could be wild ramps with morels and rainbow trout. Didn’t happen this year, but we have enjoyed some fresh rainbows and ramps fried with potatoes, and fresh ramps chopped into a salad on a couple of occasions.

Ramps have a flavor that’s a combination of onion and garlic. The plants begin to emerge in March, and April is the big month for harvesting. By May, the leaves start to yellow and die back. Over the next few months the plants will flower and develop seeds, hopefully producing more ramps next year. But, according to ramp expert and author Glen Facemire Jr., ramp seed germination is 5 percent or less. The West Virginia native has a ramp farm and sells ramps via the Internet (rampfarm.com).

More here.

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A Garrett County tradition is born. For the last two years, we have had started a tradition of picking ramps, which is basically a (really) smelly wild onion. My late grandfather LOVED them, and I always heard the stories of how he wouldn’t be allowed back in the house for at least 2 days after he ate them. They stick with you, basically. Bad. The smell is so strong, that you will even sweat ramps. He used to love to pick a mess of ramps and fry them with potatoes. When he passed away last year, we decided to take some of his beloved ramps to his grave and plant them there. What we planted last year didn’t make it through the elements (too much sun, perhaps) and winter weather, so we decided to pick some more. He has a special spot that he showed us near Lost Lands in the Potomac State Forest (family secret) and we went to look for ramps. It was Noah’s first ramp trip, and he liked everything about being in the woods and playing in the dirt with a mini shovel. He did not, however, enjoy about the smell. “P-U!” He wouldn’t even hold them for picture. So, here are a few shots of the next 3 generations of Ferguson’s left to carry on our new ramp picking tradition…until next spring! Also, enjoy some pf the pics of Lost Land Run in the Potomac State Forest: