• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FORAGER | CHEF

Award-winning chef, author and forager Alan Bergo. Food is all around you.

  • Home
  • About
  • Wild Mushrooms
    • Mushroom Archive
    • Posts by Species
      • Other Mushrooms
        • Lobster Mushrooms
        • Huitlacoche
        • Shrimp of the Woods
        • Truffles
        • Morels
        • Shaggy Mane
        • Hericium
        • Puffball
      • Polypores
        • Hen of the Woods
        • Dryad Saddle
        • Chicken of The Woods
        • Cauliflowers
        • Ischnoderma
        • Beefsteak
      • Chanterelles
        • Black Trumpet
        • Hedgehogs
        • Yellowfeet
      • Gilled
        • Matsutake
        • Honey Mushrooms
        • Russula / Lactarius
          • Candy Caps
          • Saffron Milkcap
          • Indigo Milkcap
      • Boletes
        • Porcini
        • Leccinum
        • Slippery Jacks
    • Recipes
      • Fresh
      • Dried
      • Preserves
    • The Basics
  • Plants
    • Plant Archive
    • Leafy Green Recipes
      • Leafy Green Plant Varieties
    • Ramps and Onions
    • Wild Herbs and Spices
      • Spruce and Conifers
      • Pollen
      • Prickly Ash
      • Bergamot / Wild Oregano
      • Spicebush
      • Golpar / Cow Parsnip
      • Wild Carraway
    • Wild Fruit
      • Wild Plums
      • Highbush Cranberry
      • Wild Grapes
      • Rowanberries
      • Wild Cherries
      • Aronia
      • Nannyberry
      • Wild Blueberries
    • From The Garden
    • Nuts, Roots, Tubers and Grains
    • Stalks and Shoots
  • Meat
    • Four-Legged Animals
      • Venison
      • Small Game
    • Poultry
    • Fish/Seafood
    • Offal and Organ Meat Recipes
    • Charcuterie
  • Recipes
    • Pickles, Preserves, Etc
    • Fermentation
    • Condiments
    • Appetizers
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Side Dishes
    • Entrees
    • Baking
    • Sweets
  • Video
    • Field, Forest Feast (The Wild Harvest)
    • Foraging Videos
    • Lamb and Goat Series
    • YouTube Tutorials
  • Press
    • Podcasts / Interviews
  • Work
    • Public Speaking
    • Charity and Private Dinners
    • Forays / Classes / Demos

Ramp Leaf Garum (Vegan Fish Sauce)

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Ramp leaf garum in a white dish showing it's caramel colorRamp leaf garum is a fermented, plant-based substitute for fish sauce made from ramp leaves, salt, water, and time. 

A few of my chef friends have been trying to make vegetarian fish sauce recipes using different things to replicate the umami flavor. Most of the techniques include lots of ingredients like coconut aminos, shiitake or other dried mushrooms, soy sauces, alliums and other things. 

Fresh foraged ramp leaves on a sheet tray

Ramp leaves are abundant right now.

I had an idea to make something similar with fewer ingredients. My goal was to make a version made from from foraged ingredients, specifically ramp leaf juice. To be clear, this technique won’t be for everyone as it requires some equipment, but the chefs who’ve tasted it so far have been impressed. 

Ramp leaf juice coming out of a juicer
Juicing ramps.
Leftover pulp from ramp leaves in a bowl
The leftover pulp still has juice in it.
Squeezing the juice from ramp leaf pulp wrapped in cheesecloth
Squeezing the extra juice from the pulp.
ramp leaf pulp being squeezed for it's juice
The juiced pulp can be used wherever you’d use fresh ramp leaves.

After enjoying my meat garum recipe I modified from the Noma Guide to Fermentation and becoming obsessed with the almost fishy flavor of fermented ramp leaves, I knew I could make something from ramp leaf juice. Koji rice was one of the key ingredients.

Wild ramp leaf juice

Ramp leaf juice. Try a sip and it’ll put hair on your forehead. 

Koji: The Secret

Here’s how it works. For something like sauerkraut, I might season cabbage with 2% of it’s salt by weight. Soy sauce and garum usually have a concentration of around 18% salt. 18% is too salty for the liquid to ferment on its own, but the beauty of koji fungus is that its able to lacto-ferment liquids that are high in salt.

To make the sauce, I combine pure ramp juice with koji rice, salt, and chopped ramp leaves. After the liquid has fermented for a couple days, I put the jar in a dehydrator and cook it slowly at 145-150 F. Over a period of thirty days the low heat causes a Maillard or browning reaction. The slow browning turns the yellow brine a rich caramel color, as well as adding toasted notes and depth of flavor.  

Ramp leaves, koji rice, salt and water in a jar in a dehydrator

You’ll want a box-style dehydrator or something similar to make this.

Necessary Equipment

The ingredient list is small. All you need is some koji rice, lots of ramp leaves, a little water and salt. The equipment is the most important. Here’s what you’ll need. 

  • Goggles (to protect your eyes from ramp fumes).
  • A juicer.
  • Wide fermentation vessel.
  • Large box-style dehydrator.
  • Gloves (optional) 

There’s a few different ways you can make this using other combinations of equipment. I’ll try to describe how that might be done below. If you experiment with a different method that works, please let me know. 

Simplifying the recipe

  • No ramp leaves? You might try using half onions and half garlic, starting with the same weight of the ramp leaves in the recipe.
  • Instead of a dehydrator, some people have used a rice cooker to slowly heat liquids.
  • If you don’t have a juicer, you can puree ramp leaves in a blender with water.
  • If you don’t have koji rice, you can ferment the liquid with a 3% salt concentration first, and add the rest of the salt after the fermentation.
Ramp leaves, koji rice, salt and water in a jar in a dehydrator
I like a wide, stout glass container.
A jar of fermented ramp leaf garum after 30 days
After 30 days of cooking.
Straining fermented ramp leaf garum through muslin in a chinois strainer
Straining the garum through muslin.
Straining ramp leaf garum through muslin
You’ll need to squeeze the liquid out.
Straining ramp leaf garum through muslin
The finished garum should be golden colored.
Leftover fermented ramp pulp from making garum
Discard the spent pulp, or dehydrate and use as a powder.

How to use it

The finished sauce is a fish or soy sauce substitute that tastes like toasted ramps, and you can use it anywhere you’d use fish sauce. Here’s some tips I’ve noted after a year of cooking with it. 

  • You can use the sauce for all-purpose cooking for say, pad Thai, but you’ll have to use a little extra as the flavor is more mild than regular fish sauce.
  • I like it best by itself or mixed with only a few ingredients.
  • It makes great Japanese-style dipping sauces.
  • For a tempura-style dipping sauce, mix 2 parts ramp garum with 2 parts maple syrup or mugolio, 2 parts mirin and 1 part dashi broth, vegetable stock or water, or to taste. 
  • Mixed with melted butter and a squeeze of fresh lemon it’s great spooned over baked or steamed fish.

Dipping morel mushroom tempura in a sauce made from ramp garum

I hope you’ve enjoyed this foray into experimental cooking. Whether you get inspired to make your own vegetarian fish sauce or not, I think we can all agree that the potential of what you can make with ramp leaves is only limited by your imagination. 

Fermented ramp leaf garum in an apothecary bottle next to ramp leaves
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Ramp Leaf Garum (Vegan Fish Sauce)

A fermented vegetarian fish sauce substitute made from ramp leaf juice. Makes about 6 cups.
Prep Time1 hr
Cook Time30 d
Fermentation Time5 d
Course: Condiment
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Fermentation, Ramp Leaves
Servings: 20

Equipment

  • Goggles
  • Masticating juicer
  • Large box-style dehydrator
  • Cheesecloth, as needed
  • Disposable gloves

Ingredients

  • 400 grams fresh ramp leaves
  • 240 grams salt
  • 1300 grams strained ramp juice from roughly 2000 grams of ramp leaves
  • 120 grams koji rice

Instructions

Juicing the ramp leaves

  • You know when your eyes tear up when you cut an onion? Think of juicing ramp leaves as that on steroids. I recommend wearing goggles while you juice, but if you’re of a certain constitution you can get by without.
  • Put small handfuls of whole ramp leaves into the juicer and extract the juice. As you work, if your juicer's like mine, it may start to gum up with ramp leaves. Pour a splash of water into the juicer chute occasionally to help the liquid move.
  • Eventually the pulp catcher will fill up with ramp pulp. Remove the pulp and set it aside in a bowl.
  • After the ramp leaves are juiced, put on a pair of gloves, then put handfuls of the ramp leaf pulp into cheesecloth. Wring out the remaining juice from the pulp into the juice from the juicer, then set the leaf pulp aside for another purpose, like fermenting or making green curry paste.
  • Strain the ramp juice (optional). You can add any solids to the squeezed ramp leaf pulp if you want.

Assembling the Garum

  • Rough chop the fresh ramp leaves, then combine with the salt and rice in a clean, wide vessel you can fit inside a dehydrator or similar contraption that can slowly heat things. Some people use a rice cooker.
  • Gently crush the leaves with the salt and koji rice using a wooden spoon for a minute to reduce their volume.
  • Pour the ramp juice into the vessel with the ramp leaves and rice, stir with a long utensil and top with a lid. Ferment the mixture at room temperature for 5 days.

Slow Cook for 30 days

  • Transfer the jar to the dehydrator or other cooking vessel and heat at 145 F (high) for 30 days, or until the liquid is dark and syrupy.
  • I put a layer of clingfilm pressed onto the top of the mixture to prevent water loss, but you can probably get by without it. If you do, weigh the finished liquid and replenish the water that evaporates.

Finishing

  • Strain the liquid off into a strainer lined with a generous amount of cheesecloth. Wearing gloves, wring out as much juice from the cooked ramp matter as possible. I found it helpful to massage the mass to get out the juice.
  • Discard the ramp leaf mash and thank it for the service it provided. Store the garum in the fridge to prevent it from developing kahm yeast and to keep the best flavor.

Video

Fermented ramp leaf garum in an apothecary bottle next to ramp leaves

Related

Previous Post: « Elm Samaras
Next Post: Swamp Saxifrage Shoots »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ian

    May 21, 2022 at 7:52 am

    On the topic of Garums, I recently stumbled across this chef using enzymes to make garums in hours instead of months:

    https://www.culinarycrush.biz/all/3-hour-garum-recipe

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      May 21, 2022 at 8:48 am

      Yeah I’ve tried quick ones and a friend sent me that. There’s really no substitute for slow development of flavor though in my mind-short cuts are often just that.

      Reply
  2. Joe

    May 29, 2022 at 1:09 pm

    Hi Chef,

    Do you think you could vac-pack (or just jar) the garum and cook it sous vide for a month?

    Thanks for any help you can offer!

    Reply
    • Alan Bergo

      May 30, 2022 at 12:08 pm

      Id think that would be possible. Although there is something about dry heat and I worry it wouldn’t get brown/caramel-colored on you. I don’t know though as I haven’t tried it. You would need to keep the water level constant and keep it in a cooler obv. If you try it and it works for you let me know, that would be another workaround to add here. The dehydrator I use is old and doesn’t automatically shut off so I know it can be tricky for people to mimic my setup.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

James Beard Award Winner

beard award

Subscribe (It’s free)

Forager Chef

Forager Chef

Footer

Instagram

foragerchef

FORAGER | CHEF®
🍄🌱🍖
Author: The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora
James Beard Award ‘22
Host: Field Forest Feast 👇
streaming on @tastemade

Alan Bergo
HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mul HALP! I’ve been keeping an eye on two loaded mulberry trees and both got a bunch of fruit knocked down by the storms and wind. 

If anyone in West WI or around the Twin Cities knows of some trees, (ideally on private property but beggars can’t be choosers) that I could climb and shake with a tarp underneath, shoot me a DM and let’s pick some! 🤙😄

TIA

#throwadogabone #mansquirrel #beattlefruit #mulberries #shakintrees
Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of t Lampascioni, or edible hyacinth bulbs are one of the more interesting things I’ve eaten. 

These are an ancient wild food traditionally harvested in Southern Italy, especially in Puglia and the Salentine Peninsula, as well as Greece and Crete. I’ve seen at least 6-7 different names for them. 

A couple different species are eaten, but Leopoldia comosa is probably the one I see mentioned the most. They also grow wild in North America. 

The bulbs are toxic raw, but edible after an extended boil. Traditionally they’re preserved in vinegar and oil, pickled, or preserves in other methods using acid and served as antipasti. (Two versions in pic 3). 

They’re one of the most heavily documented traditional wild foods I’ve seen. There’s a few shots of book excerpts here.

The Oxford companion to Italian Food says you can eat them raw-don’t do that. 

Even after pickling, the bulbs are aggressively extremely bitter. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that’s grown on me. 

#traditionalfoods #vampagioli #lampascione #cucinapovera #lampascioni #leopoldiacomosa #foraging
Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke Went to some new spots yesterday looking for poke sallet and didn’t do too well (I’m at the tip of its range). I did see some feral horseradish though which I don’t see very often. 

Just like wild parsnip, this is the exact same plant you see in the store and garden-just escaped. 

During the growing season the leaves can be good when young. 

They have an aggressive taste bitter enough to scare your loved ones. Excellent in a blend of greens cooked until extra soft, preferably with bacon or similar. 

For reference, you don’t harvest the root while the plant is growing as they’ll be soft and unappealing-do that in the spring or fall. This is essentially the same as when people tell you to harvest in months that have an R in them. 

#amoraciarusticana #foraging #horseradishleaves #horseradish #bittergreens
In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo In Italy chicken of the woods is known as “fungo del carrubo” (carob tree mushroom) as it’s one of the common tree hosts there. 

My favorite, and really the only traditional recipe I’ve found for them so far is simmered in a spicy tomato sauce with hot chile and capers, served with grilled bread. 

Here I add herbs too: fresh leaves of bee balm that are perfect for harvesting right now and have a flavor similar to oregano and thyme. 

Makes a really good side dish or app, especially if you shower it with a handful of pecorino before scooping it up with the bread. 

#chickenofthewoods #fungodelcarrubo #allthemushroomtags #traditionalfoods #beebalm
First of the year 😁. White-pored chicken of t First of the year 😁. 

White-pored chicken of the woods (Laetiporus cincinnatus) are my favorite chicken. 

Superior bug resistance, slightly better flavor + texture. They also stay tender longer compared to their more common yellow-pored cousins. Not a single bug in this guy. 

#treemeat #ifoundfood #foraging #laetiporuscincinnatus #chickenofthewoods
TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with @jesseroes TBT brisket face 💦. Staff meal with 
@jesseroesler and crew @campwandawega
📸 @misterberndt 

#staffmeal #brisket #meatsweats #naptime
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Privacy

  • Privacy Policy

Affiliate Disclosure

 I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website. Your purchases help keep this website free and help with the many costs involved with this site as it has continued to grow over the years. 

Copyright © 2022 ·