RAMPS
Do you have a patch of green leafy vegetation growing in your woods that looks like the picture? If so, keep it a secret because it is probably wild ramps - which are sought after by foragers, chefs and in the know home cooks. Like some other products that grow in the wild, the window to harvest them is only six weeks, which makes them all the more in demand when they are available. Ramps have a delicate blend of leek and mild garlic flavor and a spectacular green color when quickly cooked or blanched. They are unique to the northeastern quadrant of North America with much the same territory as sugar maple trees. In fact, you're most likely to find them growing in the soil in hardwood forests. Attempts to transplant them and grow them in gardens to date have not been successful. But we happen to have a clever, local farmer who is in the second year of developing a patch and it looks like it may work. Since you only harvest one-quarter of a patch a year so they will come back, this is a long, slow growing time frame. Which, of course, only makes them even more in demand!
Today's recipe tasting is Asparagus, Ramp, Potato Bisque . And, no, we're not telling you where we found our ramps!
Here's what else is at market this week.
Today's recipe tasting is Asparagus, Ramp, Potato Bisque . And, no, we're not telling you where we found our ramps!
Here's what else is at market this week.
Market Notes
- Lots of produce coming to market this week:
- Wild Carrot Farm will have greenhouse greens (kale, chard, collards, lettuce), asparagus, rhubarb and plant starts.
- Maple View Farm is bringing carrots, beets, spinach, Asian greens and eggs
- March Farms serves up lettuces, basil, arugula, parsley, kale and baked goods
- Sun One Organic joins us with greens, green garlic, mint and plant starts
- Lottaroc Farm is a new vendor - a small, family owned farm in New Hartford. In addition to hanging flower baskets, they will have tomato, parsley and lettuce plants
- Troy Brook Bakery is at market this week with cupcakes, pie, mini crostatas, chocolate chunk cookies, biscotti, breakfast pastries and almond tea bread.
- Plum Brook chocolates and Savor cookies are absent from the market.
- Guest vendor - Barefoot Books - featuring What's This? A springtime story book for youngsters in which they learn the basics of how plants grow.
- Non-profit - Litchfield Congregational Church
- Community guest - Dr. Rob VanWyck
See you at the market Saturday INDOORS at the Litchfield Community Center, 421 Bantam Road, Litchfield, CT.
Sustainable Tip of the Week
We're not out of the woods yet with respect to cold weather, so don't be over anxious in getting things into the garden. Asparagus growth is a good barometer of the ups and downs. Last week it was growing at least an inch a day. This week, with colder weather, the growth is barely measurable. Better safe than sorry.
Featured Guests
 Barefoot Books |  New Vendor |  Oral Cancer Screening Dr. Rob VanWyck |
This Week's Vendors
| Belle Alpaca alpaca products Beltane Farm goat cheese Berry Ledges Apiary honey products Brookside Farm II maple syrup Cato Corner Farm artisanal cow cheeses Goatboy Soaps soaps, lotions, lip balm Laurel Ridge Farm grass fed beef, pork and lamb Lottaroc Farm hanging baskets, plant starts Maple View Farm eggs, carrots, beets, spinach, Asian greens | March Farm lettuces, basil, arugula, parsley, baked goods Oliva Cafe dips, sauces, flatbreads Sun One Farm greens, green garlic, mint, plant starts Troy Brook Bakery special baked goods Wave Hill Breads three grain pain de campagne, ciabatta, garlic bread Wild Carrot Farm early greens and seedlings Z Farm chickens,turkeys, duck,eggs |
