Hidden Treasures: Gathering Ramps Brings Ingredients and Inspiration for Two Local Chefs
Photos by Adam DeTour
In the first week of May, when Mother Nature is reawakening throughout New England, wild ramps spread across the shaded beds of old-growth forests in North Central Massachusetts. The ramps, with their twin broad leaves, stand not even a foot tall, dwarfed beneath the sugar maples and tucked among the skunk cabbage and ferns. But this humid cocoon, dappled with sunlight, is a thriving environment, and the native ramp colony has moved in.
It’s a prime foraging spot for chefs Jared Forman of Worcester’s deadhorse hill and Tracy Chang of Pagu in Cambridge. They eye these ramps with equal parts respect and mouthwatering excitement, hoping to honor the legacy and life of these native plants while creating a delicious culinary experience for their restaurant guests.
“Ramps are special for me,” says Forman, a born-and-raised Brooklynite who worked his way from Momofuku in NYC to Strip-T’s in Watertown, where he met his wife, business partner and fellow hunter-gatherer Julia Auger. “It’s not spring here when it’s spring elsewhere. It’s one of those special items that have a specific time and place. Ramps are not the same when they’re from 500 miles away. So this is a pilgrimage for us.”
They originally found this spot by driving northwest from Worcester, and sticking their noses out the window as soon as they saw green emerging from the ground. Now as they wade through a sea of it, they’re on a mission: to harvest some wild ramps and connect with nature.
“We love being out here and bringing something to the plate,” Forman says. “Our guests get excited to have ramps on the menu this time of year because they know ramps are special. I was always enamored with the greens because it’s the first pop of color in spring. It’s here, then it’s gone.”
A shy cousin in the wild allium family, ramps have a pungent aroma with a hint of shallot, and a bolder taste than leek that’s sweet like an onion and spicy like garlic. They are sometimes called wild leeks or spring onions, and look like Lily of the Valley minus the white pendant blossoms.
Blooming in late March through April (and early May, if we’re lucky) here in the Northeast, ramps grow from a single bulb, and the entire purplish-white ombre stem and glossy green leaf are edible. With high vitamin and mineral content, ramps were and continue to be a staple in the Indigenous diet: boiled and fried, eaten raw, cooked in soups or stored for later consumption.
Now served as a side dish more often than the main course, versatile ramps are used in sauces like pesto or as a topping for quiche or pizza. Forman sautés them with olive oil, salt and pepper; pickles them for jam; grills them; or adds them to a blender with basil, olive oil and tomatoes for an accompaniment to his melt-in-your-mouth Wagyu beef steak. Chang’s Spanish tortilla (like a thick potato omelet) and hand-made noodles feature ramps in the spring, and she adds them to crudo or sashimi, too.
A highlight for any chef or forager who craves a little outdoor adventure and fresh flavor after a winter of heavy comfort foods, ramps have become the hottest item on urban menus. This popularity threatens the native supply, and since they cannot be cultivated easily, Forman explains that the roots should be left alone. It’s best to snip stems at the base rather than harvesting the bulb, so the plant remains intact and will continue growing next season.
“It’s not our goal to pick everything. We want it to flourish forever here,” says Forman, as he and Auger and their feisty pup Shea traipse down the bank of a trickling stream toward the bed of ramps. “At most, we pick 5%, maybe 20 pounds, and leave the rest to nature. If we pick less, [next year] there will be more.”
(When you find ramps for sale in shops, you’ll often see the whole plant—with roots—tied up in bunches. Don’t let this dissuade you from your purchase; the bulbs are delicious and you should use them! But if you plan to pick ramps yourself, use scissors and leave the bulb in the ground for next year.)
The ramp bed is subtly aromatic, so clearly resembling fresh garlic and tangy onion, with the texture of spinach on the palate. As Forman and Auger kneel down, careful not to tread on the leaves, he snips off two vibrant stems with his fingertips. Holding it to his nose, he notes the garlic and onion undertones, then takes a nibble and nods his head in admiration.
“There is something unique and special about foraging for something to serve our guests,” Auger says. “It’s easy to pay someone to bring these to us. But there’s no intimacy, no passion. Knowing we were out here for a day, harvesting and cleaning them, then serving them, is a level of respect.”
Forman and Auger learned to forage with a pro a decade ago, learning to follow the season and the harvest from south to north, from Pennsylvania to Vermont. Forman started finding and identifying as many types of ramps as possible in Massachusetts, particularly varieties that taste good, he says with a chuckle, as well as harvesting sustainably. They’ve been foraging the same spots ever since, and as he pinches off another stem, he scans this shaded environment that has become akin to their foraging home. Though this is a private property, ramps can grow on roadsides and backyards, city parks and the side of a highway if the conditions are right, he says. But this is the pinnacle for them.
“Everyone keeps their foraging spots private, because of the sensitive nature of these environments and we don’t want people ripping out the wrong things,” he says. “Plus, the legality of it. If you’re in a public park, you’re not supposed to remove anything. Or if you’re in the woods foraging for mushrooms, who do those mushrooms belong to?”
Awareness of ingredients attracted Chang to foraging, too. As young as 5 years old, she ate garlic chives and harvested black raspberries from her backyard, which fostered a love of fresh food and finding her own. Once she opened Pagu in 2017, clients would bring her mushrooms and wild greens to try. The multiple James Beard Award nominee, Star Chefs Boston winner 2020 and food advocate now forages frequently, and takes her husband and two young children on family adventures wherever the ramps are.
“It’s more interesting to harvest and cook ramps— and eat ramps—than to have caviar or foie gras on the menu,” Chang says. “It’s a short season, and they’re delicious.”
As she grasps a handful of stems and snips them off at the base, she says the chives of her youth are much stronger compared to this mellow variety.
“As a restaurateur, it’s our responsibility to tell these stories, of what to eat and what not to eat. If we popularize certain foods, that impacts the ecosystem. We have to be aware of what we’re eating,” she adds. “So, we’re taking from the land sustainably, with education and mindfulness.”
With baskets only as full as they needed to be, these foragers return to their cars and prepare a feast. While it’s unusual to eat their harvest in the field, the bounty and beauty of this day warrant full appreciation. Forman lights up the charcoal to grill ramp leaves with Wagyu beef and sausage, while Chang prepares her Spanish tortilla. Auger uncorks a bottle of the organic biodynamic wine she curates for her Ju’s Bottle Shop in Worcester.
The leaves wilt quickly, and the master chefs whip up their al fresco lunch with the forest as their backdrop. Serving liberally from a conservative harvest, they are grateful for the time here and raise a toast to the bounty.
“This thing that is so fleeting and only available for such a short time, we are making it last all year,” Forman says. “And it connects you with the earth in a really wonderful way.”
281 Main St, Worcester
deadhorsehill.com
310 Mass Ave, Cambridge
gopagu.com
Recipes
Tracy Chang’s Spanish Ramp Tortilla
Makes one (8-inch) tortilla
8 large eggs
2 cups Spanish olive oil
2 pounds baby Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced,
1 large white onion, cut in 2-inch dice
3–4 ounces ramps, leaves and stems only, washed, chopped in 2-inch pieces
1¾ teaspoons fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
Crack then whisk eggs in a large bowl; season with salt and pepper.
Heat olive oil in a nonstick 8-inch skillet at least 3 inches tall over medium heat. Add potatoes and onions, cooking until potatoes are tender and lightly golden, about 10–15 minutes.
Strain onions and potatoes, then add to beaten eggs while they are still warm. Mix to coat evenly and mash a bit so you have some chunks and some mashed pieces. Reserve 1 teaspoon of the olive oil for cooking and the rest for another use.
Heat a teaspoon of reserved olive oil in the hot skillet. Add ramps and sauté less than a minute with a pinch of salt. Pour in the egg, potato and onion mixture, spreading evenly. Cook over medium-low heat until edges set, about 3 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to check if the bottom is golden. The rest of the tortilla mixture will still be runny.
Carefully flip tortilla using a wet plate, and return to the hot skillet. Wiggle the pan in circular motions to form a round, hockey puck shape for the tortilla. Cook for 3 more minutes, until golden. The middle should still be soft and a bit runny.
Transfer to a plate and serve.
Jared Forman’s Charred Ramp Salsa Verde
Makes about 1–2 cups sauce, depending on the size of your tomato
1 (4-ounce) bunch of ramps with stems
1 ripe tomato, quartered
2 sprigs basil
2 sprigs parsley
¼ cup olive oil
1 Serrano chili, chopped (stemmed, seeds and ribs removed if you don’t like it too spicy)
sea salt and black pepper to taste
Thinly slice the ramp stems. Char the ramp leaves on a charcoal grill.
Add to a food processor with the remaining ingredients, pulsing a few times until it’s puréed but still a bit chunky.
Serve over a grilled rib eye steak or a piece of fish, chicken or vegetables. It’s such a versatile sauce you could use it as a dip, or a pasta sauce or anything you’d like.
This story appeared in the Spring 2025 issue.
