what is a ramp?

[larryours]

Hey Rubicon, I made a turkey blind the other day, I gave him a load of #6's. It was short on spurs. probably 2 year old. 1/2 & 3/4's but had 9 inch beard, about 19 lbs.(est.) anyway had to run down one steep ridge, and huff and puff up the next one to get set up, payed for it the next couple days, thigh mussels felt like someone jabbing knife in the Thurs. morning, day after started down hill, hurt like h@&$, I almost laid down & rolled down, figured rolling into a tree wouldn't hurt any worse. Did hunt alittle Sat. morning on Mt. didn't get any gobblers, but did get about a bushel of ramps, going to pickle some.

Little Red, do you have any receipes for fiddlehead ferns, the ones I saw on the Mt. had already started to unroll, I was a week or two short, maybe next year

[larryours]

GoodOlBoy, if you keep on about what the h@*% is a ramp, I might have to send you a pint jar of my pickled ramps( after I get back from my bear hunt) After they are pickled they don't have as much a lingering smell, but they are da*'@ good with any meat or cold cut sandwiches, you will have to leave me a mailing address. I'll have to double bubble wrap them, they could be consider hazardous materials

[GoodOlBoy]

Don't know if we allow that kinda toxic stuff down south buddy. Ya keep threatening ta send um this way I might just hafta send ya some peppers we can ourselves!

GoodOlBoy

[larryours]

Goodolboy, I'm not threatening, it's a fact, post an address in my personal file and when I get back from bear hunt I'll send you a pint jar to try, H@*%, after a taste, you might want to move to these hills

Have a buddy that lives in Finland, he got hooked up with me and my old bear hunting buddy from Pa, back in the early 90's, have put a quart jar of fresh steamed ramps into the freezer to take in cooler for bear hunt, on last night in camp before he and his nephew flies back to Finland, I'm going to fix a mess of ramps and fried potatoes, he also likes bourbon Can't fix them while bear hunting leave to much smell, however they (flight attendants) might either want to drop them off over the Atlantic or put them in the baggage compartment I know if you eat ramps you can't smell them on yourself or someone else that has eaten them, but look out for the poor souls that might have to sit close to you, that hasn't eaten any, say for instance, a plane I know I'm a rotten dog, but it's pay back for the time he fooled me to drink his coffee, talk about heart burn, They(Finlanders) drink their coffee strong, they put in 3-4 times as much coffee as we do, when we make a pot of coffee, but it's all in good fun.

[Lilred]

Rubicon,
A fiddlehead fern is nothin but a young wild fern that grows here in Virginia, and it must grow in WVA too. In the spring, the ferns in the crick and riverbottoms sprout and the stem curls up at the top like the top of a fiddle. That's when they are prime fer eatin.

I usually take em and boil em with some bacon or sometimes I fry em....just like you'd make fried cabbage. Ramps are good that way too. I also mix em up with salads.
Dandelions and poke is good...but you gotta be careful wth poke. You can only eat the young sprouts...once they git big, they're poisonous.

Layyours, ya'll got wild peppermint in WVA? We got a ton of it here in VA...but I live too fer east fer em. When I go down home to visit the folks, I usually grab a bushel along with some ginseng and catnip, but I aint been down home in a while. Catnip is easy to find here...the latter 2 aint so easy.

[BILLY D.]

LILRED

okee dokee, just to keep the ramp rant going,

"WHAT THE HECK IS POKE". NO LEWD OR LASCIVIOUS ANSWERS, PLEASE.

'member i'm a yankee.

[rubicon]

Lilred Yea we got wild peppermint. I know what you are talking about those ferns now. Didnt know they were edible. Going ramping next weekend and if the ferns arent too big i want to try them along with some water cress and brook trout . Service berries should be on soon.

[larryours]

Lilred, as Rubicon said we do have wild peppermint here in West Virginia. use to eat a lot of it as a child, also made tea out of it.

Rubicon, I got some ramps and pickled some, they are getting some good size bulbs on them, I was going to try try some fiddlehead ferns, but most of them had already started to unroll. if I'm correct, you need to get them when they first come through the ground and rolled tight, is this right Lilred ? I wanted to try some but I reckon I was about a week late .

[larryours]

Just thought I would drop a note about my spring bear hunt.
See Gear & Gadgets (about the Thermacell) also killed a 300+ black bear with my Pronghorn recurve.

Now to the cooking point: Being the prankster that I am, on the last night of our hunt, for dinner, I cooked up a big skillet of ramps, potatoes, & ham, along with some pan fried wild turkey breast. And everyone had several shots of bourbon. This is the kicker:
If everone eats ramps, you don't smell them, however, our hunting buddy from Finland and his Nephew, really enjoyed the meal, along with several shots of bourbon. They flew out of Val D'or airport, with a lay over in Montreal, then to Amsterdam, then on to Hellsinki. Can you imagine being on an airplane, in tight quarters, with someone who has eaten ramps, and drank bourbon, the night before ??? Wheeeeeeeuu