Episode 107 - Anatomy of a Ramp - Eat Like No One Else

In this episode, learn about the ramp or wild leek, a spring time veggie that has a taste that falls somewhere between garlic and onion. Learn how to use each part of a ramp so that nothing goes to waste.

We have a special guest, Molly from Vanilla Bean Cuisine sharing her recipe for Ramp Pesto.

🎧 Listen

You can listen to this podcast episode below or listen on any of these podcast players - Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts. If you would prefer to read the text, you will find a transcript below.

👀 Read the blog post

✍️ Guest Blogger

Hi everyone. This is Molly Madigan Pisula from the blog, Vanilla Bean Cuisine. Today I'm excited to talk to you about one of my favorite spring recipes, Lemon Ramp pesto with Basil. Ramps are one of my favorite spring vegetables, and you can only find them for a few weeks out of the year. They're delicious in so many ways.

You can char them on the grill, roast them, and even pickle them. But one of my favorite uses for ramps is to turn them into a pesto. Just chop up a bunch of ramps along with some fresh basil leaves. I'd like to use both ramps and basil in this pesto because ramps on their own can have a pretty intense garlic flavor.

Adding a little basil, mellows them out just a little. Then I put the ramps and basil in a food processor with toasted pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, and lemon juice, and blend. You can then use your pesto as a pasta sauce. You can toss it on roasted potatoes, you can serve it on fish or chicken or steak.

You can dollop it on eggs, or you can spread it on a Crostini. And the best part is that you can freeze it. So you can have a taste of spring ramps well after ramp season is over.

Wild ramps show growing in a forest. — I love wild ramps (also called wild leeks). They have a flavor that is somewhere between garlic and onion. They come with leaves you can chop up and eat as well as bulbs to use like garlic. They have a short season in early spring and ramps are something to look forward to that bring me excitement during the year.

🛒 Before You Checkout

What you need to know before you checkout at the grocery store or market:

Ramps have the nickname "little stinkers" as they have a strong smell to them. That means when you bring them home from the store and put them in your fridge think about where you are going to store them. Near berries and apples is probably not a good place as you don't want them to taste like ramps!

Have a plan for what you are going to do with the ramps before your head hits the pillow the day you buy them. Since they are fragile you could have a few days to use them, especially the leaves. Having a plan is always a great step to help you reduce food waste in your home, especially with something like ramps.