Remember the Allium.

NUMBERS 11:5…

The Israelites in the wilderness reminisce about the food they had in Egypt… “We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, and onions, and the garlic.”

The word garlic brings about an impassioned reaction among its lovers. Their eyes almost roll back as they, one and the same, exclaim, “I LOVE GARLIC.”

Garlic breathes and invigorates and heals. A life-sustaining force is garlic, and the wild spring variety, oft called ramps, are among their most prized expression.

For good reason, ramps are the first hearty green out of the ground each spring—neither frost nor dear touch them.

Spring, for me, is defined by the ramps arrival. Those in the know watch with unabated joy as a sea of emerald green emerges from the deadish dark brown, seemingly overnight. It’s a magic carpet push, and one packed with I would posit the very best of the seasons’ flavors (that’s saying a lot on a property with morels!).

Ramps are mostly peppery, with a slight celery crunch, a touch earthy, and oh, so sweet. Onioney, garlicy goodness. An addicting flavor, ramps permeate your blood and bones and skin giving you a glow as your body surges with a litany of vitamins and minerals. For centuries, natives of lands teaming with abundant ramps revitalized their health each spring on their leaves and bulbs.

So no wonder the wandering Israelites found reason to grumble in the desert over the lack of garlic! The irony of being in a country similarly set free and wandering and grumbling largely ignorant of what God has provided, past, present, and future.

Ramps are so temporal too. Here one minute, gone the next, but flowering and seeding and growing underfoot all the time. A signal of the health of the ecosystem, ramps are both delicate and robust, even a tree fallen on top of it, will not prevent the ramp bulb in its push to the sun. The sweet 20-inch neck of a ramp stem, as long as linguine, is a fine foodie’s addition to Spring Ramp Ramen.

Touting their terrior,

and indicative of the sensibilities of its neighbors. Many a ramp patch has been shoveled out for lack of knowledge.

Restrain must be taken in harvesting ramps, seldom can one stumble on a patch and pluck freely. Use ramps modestly, even a little can shift the flavor profile of your favorite dish, be it your baked dishes or your biscuits.

usce at massa nec sapien auctor gravida in in tellus. Aenean eu justo sed elit dignissim aliquam. Mauris id fermentum nulla. Quisque congue porttitor ullamcorper. Mauris id fermentum nulla. Integer tempus, elit in laoreet posuere, lectus neque blandit dui, et placerat urna diam mattis orci.

Last but not least, AI still has a hard time rendering ramps.