With warm weather are fiddleheads/wild leeks early?

[ElizabethS]

Has anyone seen them in stores?

[OTFOODIE]

I was wondering if the Ontario CH'ers can help me identify an Allium family member.

I was chatting with my neighbour, and there are plants that look like a tall grass growing in his garden. He said it was a wild plant in the onion/garlic family. Until last might, I didn't know what a ramp looked like, s at first I assumed they were ramps. I think I was wrong. My neighbour tells be that the bulb doesn't thinken. We tasted the leaf, which is long (12-15"), thin, with a v-shaped cross-section, and it was somewhat leak-like, but with a spiciness in the aftertaste.

[ParkerQ]

it would help if you posted a picture...

[ElizabethS]

Wild leeks at SLM this morning - Marvin reports Fiddleheads maybe next week

[Finnegan]

How much do they cost

[ElizabethS]

$2.50 a bunch - and it was a generous bunch. I also found Burrata at Alex's Farm Products so make fresh pappardelle with wild leek pesto and Burrata - it was delicious! (used two bunches for the pesto)

[jayt90]

I have been able to pick 12" ramps from a moist area in my backyard, west of London. Curiously they are in full sun but doing well. I'm going to collect seed in mid summer and sow a new shady area in the fall.

[Nyleve]

Report: ramps are definitely up. I picked a few this morning - and I'm sure to be struck dead by lightning for this - I made matzoh brei with bacon and ramps for breakfast, which was ridiculously good. Fiddleheads are not up yet, nor morels. We need rain for the morels and a bit more warmth for the fiddles.

[acd123]

So funny. I love it. Matzah brei with bacon and ramps. Sounds amazing. It's like my house. after the motzi a few Fridays ago, we tucked into some great low and slow pork ribs. I wouldn't worry about the lightening. It's IMPOSSIBLE that whoever/whatever is responsible for lightening doesn't like ribs and bacon.

[Nyleve]

My son said that he doesn't think that bacon is "specifically" mentioned in the Passover food rules. I was going with that.

[crawfish]

I checked on the weekend north of Kingston and the fiddleheads were not up.

[fabia]

Heading north this weekend, but I'm sure they will be too small to pick. I won't get back until May 24 so will keep my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get some then.
I never dig out the whole patch. The woods I go to are scattered with them, so I spread my digging around. I have also transplanted over the last few years into the woods closer to the cottage and someday will be able to harvest from that patch.

[Nyleve]

I retract my earlier report that wild leeks are not up yet. I just checked my patch this morning and they are definitely up. I'd want to wait another week before picking, though, because the leaves are still small but I suspect that SW Ontario may be ahead of us. Maybe you'll start to find them in markets about now.

[Kagemusha]

Too early. Ramps aren't sustainable and most are stolen( the impolite term for "foraged").

[jayt90]

If we forage too many they will be restricted, as in Quebec, with much higher prices for farmed ramps.

[Nyleve]

You're quite right about that. I worry about how popular ramps have become and the fact that they are now showing up in restaurants isn't a good thing. When I pick them, I have permission from the landowner and I am very selective. But when professional pickers come in, they dig up everything and pretty much leave a vacant forest floor. Ramps are more vulnerable than wild mushrooms or fiddleheads because you're basically pulling up the whole thing - roots and all. So there's nothing left come come back next year. Very sad business.

[Herne]

Do any of the seed companies sell wild leak seeds or young plants?

[Nyleve]

There are some online - just google ramp seeds and you'll find them. I took a couple dozen ramps that a friend gave me and planted them. They're spreading a bit but I think I'll be an old lady before the patch is anywhere near harvestable.

[jayt90]

I talked to an Alpine grower about propagating ramps and he suggested collecting the seeds in July, rather than waiting for root division, then planting in a shady moist area similar to ginseng plots.

[atomeyes]

i saw that Pizzeria Libretto had them on one of their pizzas.
ramps have jumped the shark.

[fabia]

He used the whole plant in the soup. Last year I made pesto with the leaves of the plants I picked. The chef is going to pickle some for our next class in a few weeks.

[porker]

I usually pickle the bulbs. I like the leaves in a a quick, wilting saute, but a soup sounds great. Will likely try this with wild maushrooms.

[LexiFirefly]

Gabardine had them on their fish special lastnight. So it looks like they're up. Usually it takes longer for them to get into stores though.

[fabia]

I was at a cooking class last night and the chef made wild leek and mushroom soup. The leeks are out here, but they were still smallish, but big enough enough to make a great soup!!!
I'm in Hamilton.

[porker]

Just curious, did he use the whole plant, leaf & all, or just the white bulb?
FWIT near Montreal, nothing has poked up yet.
I don't know if its temperature based or amount of daily light which triggers the sprout...

[Nyleve]

Temperature. Specifically, ground temperature. As soon as we get some warmth (again) and a nice soaking rain, both fiddleheads and leeks will be up.

[Wahooty]

For what it's worth, a friend near Cleveland, OH reported ramp patches about a week ago, but in her pictures they looked like they were still a little low. So the season seems to be coming a little early, but not drastically so. In my area, I'm hoping I might be able to find a few for my Easter dinner.

[Cat123]

Fiddleheads were in the basement of SLM a couple of weeks ago.

[Nyleve]

Not up in the woods yet. I'm near Peterborough.

[gttahaveit]

The leeks have poked through at my family place in Haliburton, but are still about 10 - 14 days from harvest

[Finnegan]

Picked an entire shopping bag full on April 16 near Haliburton