What is this lovely? Well, it’s not a scallion, and it’s too broad to be garlic chives, so by process of elimination, it’s a ramp, or as some like to call it– a wild leek. Indigenous to North America this aromatic vegetable simply resembles other vegetables, but has a taste that is uniquely it’s own.

I had seen ramps popping up on menus in restaurants around town prepared in various ways; left whole and grilled, sauteed and braised, or even slivered and served raw, but I had yet to try them myself. When I saw them, haphazardly lying in nest-like pile at Berkeley Bowl, I decided to bring them home and experiment with them for dinner.

At $9 a pound, these babies are not cheap, but doing my research I understand why. Ramps are generally grown and foraged in the wild. I’m not actually sure how “wild” one can get in the Bay Area, the wilds of my back yard seem to be fairly tame, except for the neighbor boy leaving his tricycle lying about, but, oh well. They prefer to be grown in deep forest soils, in relative shade. Similar to a green onion, you can eat virtually all of the ramp; the flavor gets more mild the farther you get from the bulbous root end.

My dinner went as follows: ravioli stuffed with potato and pea, in a light sauce of white wine, fava bean, and ramps, accompanied by a rustic loaf of Acme bread, and a peach (first of the season), as a perfect end to a springtime feast. And how were the ramps you ask? They were delightful. Garlicy, oniony, with a flavor distinctly sweet upon cooking, they mellowed as they sizzled away in the pan, flavoring the entire sauce. Strong, but not necessarily pungent, the flavor changed as the cooking continued. Tasting them raw as I sliced them for the saute, I was surprised by sharpness of their sapidity. They hit the pan with a sizzle, the fragrance similar to both onions and garlic wafting into the air, and with each ingredient added to the sauce their gentle strength withheld.

So the next time you are at the grocery store, or a farmer’s market, look for, and try them. Don’t worry about the price, a little bit goes a long way. But you had better hurry, ramps have an incredibly short season; they are only available in the months of April and May.