One of the greatest ramp bulb recipes of all time, ramp jam was a staple on the menu at three different restaurants I worked at or managed. Once you try it, you'll be a believer too.
After yet another long winter, things are starting to thaw and Minnesota is coming back to life. My friends, coworkers and I have been counting down the moments until green things will start to grow again. Above everything else, nothing really announces the arrival of the growing season here like the ramp.
Last year at the tail end of ramp season I came upon a nice place where, for as far as my eyes could see, in every direction there were ramps, ramps, and more ramps. It was breathtaking. The leaves were all too far gone, but I dug plenty of gargantuan, late season bulbs for pickles, and I remembered the spot for this year. Last week we hit it up and picked the first batch of 2014.
The first flush of ramps you pick will be subtle and mild, they're almost more like a garlicky herb compared to the stronger flavor they will have after a few more weeks of growing. Cookery wise, young ramps with undeveloped bulbs aren't really the best for pickling. They can get pretty soft, and lose their texture quickly.
There is a very special recipe I like to use with the young ramps, and it ranks right up there with ramp top pesto in terms of deliciousness, maybe even more so. It's sweet, sour, gooey, incredibly savory, and has hints of aromatic notes from the whole toasted spices: it is the almighty ramp jam.
This is a just a variation of a recipe for green onion jam I adapted and tweaked from a chef who I admire very much-Lenny Russo, without him, there would be no ramp jam. Not exactly a "jam" like you would expect, it's savory and has a bit of a slight crunch to it as well. You could definitely still put it on toast (I do) but usually it's function is more of a condiment, to be used as part of the accoutrement for platter of cured meats or cheese. It is so much more than just a condiment though.
Since the recipe contains a bit of cornstarch to thicken it and give it it's "jammy" quality, it will in turn thicken other things that you add it to. Gravy, fruit sauce, heck barbecue sauce. The ramp jam's possibilities in the kitchen are only limited by your imagination.
I've used it to make vinaigrettes, flavor sour cream, or I'll just dollop it on something, anything. This week I used it to make a sauce for beef roast. I took some jam, thinned it with just a bit of reduced, strong pork glace then mounted it with a little butter, and whisked it in to thicken it lightly: it was the best thing I made all week.
In closing, if you know where some ramps grow, you should probably go there immediately and then make this recipe. Afterwords, send me a message and tell me some fun ways you've experimented with it. 🙂
Ramp Jam
Equipment
- 1 3 quart sauce pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups ramp bulbs and stems sliced ¼ inch reserve the leaves for making ramp top pesto
- 1.5 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in ¼ cup water
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons sugar or honey
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon mustard seed
- ¼ teaspoon each whole caraway and cumin seed toasted
- 1 tablespoon flavorless oil like grapeseed or canola
- Tiny pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a saucepot on medium heat, add half of the ramps to the pan and cook for a minute or two until translucent. Add the salt, spices and sugar and cook until the sugar is dissolved.
- Add the vinegar and cook for a minute more. Add the cornstarch dissolved in water and cook until the mixture thickens, just a minute or two. Finally, turn off the heat and stir in the reserved ramps, cool, cover and refrigerate. The jam will last for a couple weeks, but will lost some of the “jammy quality” after a while.
- Transfer the ramp jam to a container and cool immediately. It will keep for a long time if it is tightly covered, although the jammy-ness of the cornstarch will wear off after a week or so.
Amanda
I was wondering if you thought this jam would be acidic enough to water bath can. I can't wait to make it with the ramps I found this weekend.
Alan Bergo
Hi Amanda! Yeah you definitely want to try the ramp jam, don't be tempted to leave out the spices either, they're part of what makes it so unique. I'll tell you that I haven't canned the ramp jam yet, but I was meaning to this year. When I make another batch at the restaurant I'll test the PH since my tester at home is shot. Until then, I would increase the vinegar in the recipe to 3/4 cup, just to be safe. Either way, I bet it is safe to can by itself, but like I said, I haven't tested the PH. A coworker and I did some experiments a while back. Instead of using the PH tester, we first just seasoned various pickles to taste with vinegar. Basically what we found is that if we could taste vinegar in the pickling liquid, it's ph was always under 4.2, which is what is considered safe. I usually try to go a little under 4.2 though, just because. I would feel safe canning the ramp jam after increasing the vinegar a bit, the sugar and salt in the recipe will also help to ward off bacteria. An alternate way to can it without having any air in the jars would be to pour the boiling hot jam into 1/2 pint jars, screw the lids on very tight, then turn them upside down and leave them overnight like that. The next day you'll find all the jars have formed hermetic seals, just like canning, from the heat pressure. Thats' a method I use when canning to keep fiddlehead ferns and green beans crisp, but it also has the added benefit of allowing you to fill up the jar entirely to the rim, eliminating excess air-which is a very good thing for pickles.
Dan Farmer
I can vouch for this recipe. After Alan emailed it to me, I made two pints of the stuff. I love it! The sweet/sour is subtle, with hints of the caraway as the most prominent spice taste. So far, I have used it simply, once as a relish on a leftover steak sandwich and once stuffed into a chicken breast. I have also eaten it out of the jar with a spoon! On bread, with a pungent cheese as shown in the last picture sounds really great... I think I will try that next.
Trish,
I would not go so far as to not dig the bulbs... for me, they are the best part. But I'm glad to hear you comment on cautious harvesting (Alan has mentioned that in at least one of his other ramp postings here). Where I harvest ramps, they grow not only in clumps, but in patches of clumps. I will hop around and just take one or two clumps from a patch.
Trish Hannah
Alan, love getting notices about your foraging and what you are able to do with the lusciousness you find. However, please remind your followers that foraging comes with a deep appreciation for sustainability as well. No where did you mention that digging up of the ramps also means they will not return next year. Perhaps taking leaves and not bulbs or at least not all of the bulbs in any one area is the best practice for future finds. I, too, would love to make jam!!! T
Alan Bergo
Hi Trish! Good to hear from you. Sustainability is very important, and ramps are the most sensitive thing I know of.I made a big note of it in my first post I ever did on ramps.....which is kind of buried in the site now and not really visible unless you dig. The kicker is that if I put a disclaimer on every single post I did about ramps, it would get redundant. Word of mouth is a great way to spread this knowledge I think. I have to shamefully admit too, that I had been picking ramps for a while before I started developing recipes for them, and in my ignorance I destroyed two patches, and I regret it terribly. Needless to say, I encourage everyone I know to plant them or transplant, and grow their own patches at home, or just snip the leaves, since that's much easier than digging. If you have any other ideas on how to spread the word about picking them sustainably, let me know. Happy hunting to you too.