When it comes to ramps, there are, in essence, two, adamant camps (aside from a smattering of culinary fence-straddlers): You love or you hate the seasonal delicacy of the mountains.
The lines of demarcation can be almost as pronounced as the distinctive aroma of the pungent, wild leeks as they fry up in the kitchen. Apart from personal taste and preferences, the olfactory after-effects are divisive for some; like their allium family cousins onions and garlic, ramps, in excessive intake, can emanate from the pores, sweat glands and breath of the diner for hours afterward. (In other words, ramps don't just stick to your ribs after you ingest them. In their defense of those who raise a stink, however, farmersalmanac.com avers that ramps are rich in vitamins A and C, chromium, selenium, and antioxidants. Detractors have rebutted that ramps' scent on your breath prevents anyone from getting close enough to you to infect you with disease.)
Regardless of your gustatory stance, every spring, harvested ramps are chopped, served and savored at community gatherings from panhandle to panhandle and all points south in the Mountain State. Many of these ramp dinner events double as fundraisers for churches, fire departments, and other host sites.
West Virginia's best known and mostly widely attended each spring is the Feast of the Ramson in Richwood, the self-proclaimed Ramp Capital of the World. It will return for its 84th year from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at the Richwood Community Center, the former Nicholas County Armory, 20 Avenue B in Richwood.
Richwood Chamber of Commerce Administrative Secretary Suzanne Coffey said Feast attendance had declined in recent years in the aftermath of devastating floods in 2016 and the 2020 pandemic but rebounded in 2022.
"We sold around or about 900 tickets last year. That was up a lot from previous years," Coffey said.
She cooked many messes of ramps doled out at the Feast last year, too. "I like ramps -- fried in bacon grease. And that's how I cooked them -- in bacon grease. Everyone said they were really good," Coffey declared.
Ramps will be served from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (or until the ramps are gone), with dinners costing $20 for adults and $10 for those 12 and younger. Plates of ramps will be complemented and laden with potatoes, brown beans, cornbread, ham and bacon, with sassafras tea or other beverages and desserts available. Diners can choose indoor or outdoor seating at the center.
The Feast of the Ransom will include an arts and crafts show, strolling musicians, a ramp recipe contest, and other festivities. Separately, a “Topless on the Hellbender” Jeep event, to benefit the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on nearby Edgewood Avenue.
"Our Little League's opening day is that same day, too," Coffey noted, "so I think the town will be really busy then."
Call 304-846-6790 or go to www.richwoodchamberofcommerce.org for directions, tickets or more information about the Feast of the Ransom.
Ramps will also be available closer to Charleston on April 22. Stinkfest will take place, appropriately enough, at the Wild Ramp, 555 14th St., W., in Huntington, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is free for Stinkfest, which will also feature produce and craft vendors and other attractions amid the victuals prepared in the Wild Ramp Harvest Kitchen.
"We'll have the traditional dinners with fried potatoes, ham and ramps, and we usually do cole slaw and cornbread," Wild Ramp Market Director Shelly Keeney said. "We'll also have our ramp-a-roni pepperoni rolls, ramp focaccia bread and ramp ice cream. Some of our vendors bring in ramp products and will have fresh ramps to sell; we got a small batch in just today. I want to have a contest for the best ramp dish. We did that one year at Stinkfest and it was fun."
For more Stinkfest specifics, call 304-523-7267 or go to wildramp.org.
The Brothers of the Wheel Motorcycle Club will rev up the ramps from noon until the leeks are gone on April 22 at 5105 Midland Drive in Rand. The all-you-can-eat dinners will include fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, salads, and desserts. For more information, call Herb Johnson at 304-545-2029.
A couple of weeks later, near Pinch and Elkview, the annual Quick Community Ramp Dinner is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (or while ramps last) Saturday, May 6, at the Quick Community Center, 23 Lucy Lane, in Quick. The cost is $12.50 for ages 7 and up and $6 for 6 and younger with a paying adult. For directions to the center or more details, phone 304-965-9008.
Random Ransom, Ranson, and other ramp facts
• Ramps (Allium tricoccum) are a member of the lily family that includes garlic and onions. They can be located on often north-facing, shaded hillsides. They can be identified by their flat, green, rabbit-ear or tongue-shaped leaves; red stalks and white bulbs.
• The name “ramp” is derived from its similarity to an English plant called the “ransom” (Allium ursinus) or, previously, “ramson” (ergo, the Feast of the Ramson in Richwood).
• Ramps are native to eastern North America, ranging from Nova Scotia south to Georgia and west to Iowa. Their prevalence in the Appalachian region is due to its especially favorable growing conditions.
• One of the first blooming edible green plants of the season, ramps have been consumed for generations as a spring tonic. Its early arrival also explains why so many ramp festivals occur March through May, during ramps' peak freshness period.
• Native Americans have contributed to ramp status and lore over the centuries. According to Scott Sheu on the American Indian Health and Diet project website, Chicago's name comes from a Menomini Indian word for ramps, shika’ko, which used to grow in the area (which the Menomini referred to as the “skunk place.”)
• Ramps were also used by Native American tribes as forms of medicine. Cherokees ate ramps to treat colds and used plant extracts for earache treatment. The Iroquois employed ramps in a tonic to counter intestinal worms.
• The late Jim Comstock, longtime editor of the West Virginia Hillbilly, once mixed ramp juice ("ramp oil") with the ink of the Richwood News Leader as a nod to his town's forthcoming Feast of the Ramson. The odor proved so foul and objectionable for readers that Comstock received an official reprimand from the U.S. postmaster general for distributing the irredolent papers through the mail.
The lines of demarcation can be almost as pronounced as the distinctive aroma of the pungent, wild leeks as they fry up in the kitchen. Apart from personal taste and preferences, the olfactory after-effects are divisive for some; like their allium family cousins onions and garlic, ramps, in excessive intake, can emanate from the pores, sweat glands and breath of the diner for hours afterward. (In other words, ramps don't just stick to your ribs after you ingest them. In their defense of those who raise a stink, however, farmersalmanac.com avers that ramps are rich in vitamins A and C, chromium, selenium, and antioxidants. Detractors have rebutted that ramps' scent on your breath prevents anyone from getting close enough to you to infect you with disease.)
Regardless of your gustatory stance, every spring, harvested ramps are chopped, served and savored at community gatherings from panhandle to panhandle and all points south in the Mountain State. Many of these ramp dinner events double as fundraisers for churches, fire departments, and other host sites.
West Virginia's best known and mostly widely attended each spring is the Feast of the Ramson in Richwood, the self-proclaimed Ramp Capital of the World. It will return for its 84th year from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at the Richwood Community Center, the former Nicholas County Armory, 20 Avenue B in Richwood.
Richwood Chamber of Commerce Administrative Secretary Suzanne Coffey said Feast attendance had declined in recent years in the aftermath of devastating floods in 2016 and the 2020 pandemic but rebounded in 2022.
"We sold around or about 900 tickets last year. That was up a lot from previous years," Coffey said.
She cooked many messes of ramps doled out at the Feast last year, too. "I like ramps -- fried in bacon grease. And that's how I cooked them -- in bacon grease. Everyone said they were really good," Coffey declared.
Ramps will be served from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (or until the ramps are gone), with dinners costing $20 for adults and $10 for those 12 and younger. Plates of ramps will be complemented and laden with potatoes, brown beans, cornbread, ham and bacon, with sassafras tea or other beverages and desserts available. Diners can choose indoor or outdoor seating at the center.
The Feast of the Ransom will include an arts and crafts show, strolling musicians, a ramp recipe contest, and other festivities. Separately, a “Topless on the Hellbender” Jeep event, to benefit the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on nearby Edgewood Avenue.
"Our Little League's opening day is that same day, too," Coffey noted, "so I think the town will be really busy then."
Call 304-846-6790 or go to www.richwoodchamberofcommerce.org for directions, tickets or more information about the Feast of the Ransom.
Ramps will also be available closer to Charleston on April 22. Stinkfest will take place, appropriately enough, at the Wild Ramp, 555 14th St., W., in Huntington, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is free for Stinkfest, which will also feature produce and craft vendors and other attractions amid the victuals prepared in the Wild Ramp Harvest Kitchen.
"We'll have the traditional dinners with fried potatoes, ham and ramps, and we usually do cole slaw and cornbread," Wild Ramp Market Director Shelly Keeney said. "We'll also have our ramp-a-roni pepperoni rolls, ramp focaccia bread and ramp ice cream. Some of our vendors bring in ramp products and will have fresh ramps to sell; we got a small batch in just today. I want to have a contest for the best ramp dish. We did that one year at Stinkfest and it was fun."
For more Stinkfest specifics, call 304-523-7267 or go to wildramp.org.
The Brothers of the Wheel Motorcycle Club will rev up the ramps from noon until the leeks are gone on April 22 at 5105 Midland Drive in Rand. The all-you-can-eat dinners will include fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, salads, and desserts. For more information, call Herb Johnson at 304-545-2029.
A couple of weeks later, near Pinch and Elkview, the annual Quick Community Ramp Dinner is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (or while ramps last) Saturday, May 6, at the Quick Community Center, 23 Lucy Lane, in Quick. The cost is $12.50 for ages 7 and up and $6 for 6 and younger with a paying adult. For directions to the center or more details, phone 304-965-9008.
Random Ransom, Ranson, and other ramp facts
• Ramps (Allium tricoccum) are a member of the lily family that includes garlic and onions. They can be located on often north-facing, shaded hillsides. They can be identified by their flat, green, rabbit-ear or tongue-shaped leaves; red stalks and white bulbs.
• The name “ramp” is derived from its similarity to an English plant called the “ransom” (Allium ursinus) or, previously, “ramson” (ergo, the Feast of the Ramson in Richwood).
• Ramps are native to eastern North America, ranging from Nova Scotia south to Georgia and west to Iowa. Their prevalence in the Appalachian region is due to its especially favorable growing conditions.
• One of the first blooming edible green plants of the season, ramps have been consumed for generations as a spring tonic. Its early arrival also explains why so many ramp festivals occur March through May, during ramps' peak freshness period.
• Native Americans have contributed to ramp status and lore over the centuries. According to Scott Sheu on the American Indian Health and Diet project website, Chicago's name comes from a Menomini Indian word for ramps, shika’ko, which used to grow in the area (which the Menomini referred to as the “skunk place.”)
• Ramps were also used by Native American tribes as forms of medicine. Cherokees ate ramps to treat colds and used plant extracts for earache treatment. The Iroquois employed ramps in a tonic to counter intestinal worms.
• The late Jim Comstock, longtime editor of the West Virginia Hillbilly, once mixed ramp juice ("ramp oil") with the ink of the Richwood News Leader as a nod to his town's forthcoming Feast of the Ramson. The odor proved so foul and objectionable for readers that Comstock received an official reprimand from the U.S. postmaster general for distributing the irredolent papers through the mail.
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