The wild leeks (a.k.a. ramps) of the Canadian woods

By CINDA CHAVICH

If you tramp on a ramp in the woods this spring, you’ll know it.

“That’s how most people find them, the aroma is really strong,” says chef Rory Golden, the ramp crazy chef at Ontario’s Deerhurst Resort. In Muskoka, the ramp, or wild leek, season coincides with the black fly season, so foraging trips better be quick. But the bugs don’t seem to phase chef Golden when he’s on the hunt – we hop in his MG convertible, top down, and zoom down a couple of backroads to his favourite patch of these intensely-flavoured cousins of your garden variety onions.

Luckily, that patch is mere steps off the road. And before I can get my camera out of the bag, chef Golden is mucking about in the leaf litter with a wide bladed knife, proudly releasing a mittful of onions from the soft spring ground.

The ramp, or wild leek, grows in forests across Canada and the northeastern U.S., especially prolific in the hardwood forests of northern Ontario and Quebec. While West Virginia is known for it’s annual spring ramp festival, Canada can lay claim to this pungent spring vegetable from coast to coast.

Carpeting the marshy spots of maple and hemlock forest in dense clumps, the broad leaves resemble the lily-of-the-valley in my flower beds, which makes perfect sense as they are among the 325 species in the lily family, Allium tricoccum, to be exact. Emerging like rolled quills, the wide, flat leaves unfurl and may grow to eight inches long, with a small and garlicky bulb, purple tinged at the top, underground.

Beware while you dig. Grizzly bears and wild boar apparently like to gorge on ramps in the spring, too. And don’t decimate the patch – never take more than 50-60% so you’ll have ramps next year, says Golden.

The trend to hit the forest pantry whenever possible is one that’s growing across the country, as chefs and cooks forage for the first morel mushrooms, stinging nettles to stand in for spinach, and fir shoots to infuse in wildflower honey and brush over duck breasts and salmon steaks.

I can imagine Tom Thomson rooting about for these aromatic treasures in Algonquin Park while away on artistic journeys in the woods, or his modern-day Muskokan celebrity counterpart, Les Stroud (a.k.a. Survivor Man of OLN television fame) living on wild leeks.

Use them anywhere you’d use an leek or scallion – a potato and wild leek soup is particularly pleasant. But because they’re so rare, it’s a shame to chop them up – just sauté them leaves and all, and serve them whole alongside morel-crusted spring lamb, as chef Tim Cuff of The Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino, B.C., did on a recent Saturday night. Chef Golden meanwhile plans to sauté his ramps with bok choy to serve with fresh pickerel, put up some ramp pesto, and pickle them with maple syrup to garnish Muskoka martinis.

The rapscallion!

(Cinda Chavich’s Local Bounty columns appear in the Globe and Mail newspaper)

©Cinda Chavich 2007

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