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Harvesting Wild Ramps

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Here in SE Indiana, April/May is morel and ramp season. For those days we go out and not find the beloved morel mushroom, we can pacify ourselves a little when we bring back some saddles and wild ramps.

Ramps, aka Allium tricoccum, or spring onions are a North American perennial. Think green onion with 2-3 much broader leaves, and more of a pungence. There are a couple of varieties too. Around here, there is a variety that has a purple/burgundy streak coming up the leave stems (tricoccum) from the bulb, and there is the narrower leaf variety with no purple (burdickii). While the entire plant of both varieties is edible, we try to preach harvesting them sustainably. You can wipe out a ramp patch if you give no thought to harvesting. Ramps are bulb-dividing, rhizomes… just like ginseng and ginger. Their popularity has seen a surge in the last few years. About 5 years ago, I transplanted some on to my own property and have been leaving them alone to do their thing.

Here’s my wife standing beyond the ramps I transplanted.

Ramps from seed can take 6 to 20 months to germinate and even after germination, another 5-7 years before it is large enough to harvest. Remember that when you eat the bulb of a ramp, it likely took up to 7 years to form. It’s my thought that if we’re eating them, we need to be propagating them even more. Generally, I harvest only the leaves… and on occasions, I will take some bulbs from a well-established ramp patch to make a jar of pickled bulbs, or another personal application. Still, I cut the roots from the bulb in a way that keeps them intact, and I’ll return those to the ground. It’s the least I can do. Moral of the story is, if you take, then you should work to put back.

Below are some picks of my personal ramp patches (both varieties) and some public lands I hunt on.

  • Close up of burdickii patch.
  • Burdickii variety, narrower leaves.
  • Harvesting just the leaves. Leave one leaf alone.
  • A nice burdickii patch.
  • Tricoccum variety – Wider leaves.
  • Around here, there is no burgundy color on the burdickii variety.
  • Ramps, leaves only harvested in bucket.
  • Ramps cleaned and drying.

Now that we know how to properly identify and harvest wild ramps, let’s talk applications. I’ve always enjoyed the greens sautéed in butter and garlic… and of course with sliced morels! This year, I wanted to change things up. Thus far, I have not harvested any roots or bulbs and limited my harvesting to only the leaves. With these leaves, I have a few other projects underway. Click it out:

Homemade Cheese Press

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I was asked recently about my cheese press and if I would be willing to show some pics and explain it. I’m always happy to ablige. This is a cheese press that I made for cheese making. I made it using all scrap materials and specifically recall, I made it over the winter in my bee mentors workshop… when I was supposed to be building beehive.

It’s rudimentary, but it gets the job done. It’s the only one I’ve ever used and I still use it today. Sure there are some quirks that I’ll explain, but with a little thought, maybe I’ll eventually figure out the clever tweaks it needs. Anyone can look around on the net and find ideas, and maybe even some plans. I refused to buy any because of the simple nature of the device. I also wanted something that I could tuck away when I wasn’t using it. Hence, the design is my own.

First, here is what it looks like when it’s collapsed and ready for storage.

Simple and collapsible.

The black base was a piece of scrap counter top that was cut out for the sink. This is particle board in nature, but it’s compact, and of course, has a piece of Formica laminated on the top. So far, so good, over the many years it’s been used, there’s no sign of de-lamination yet. However, the acid from the draining whey has discolored and stained it a bit. I wanted to bottom to be durable, smooth, and sanitary since that is where the cheese mould would be sitting… on a corrugated may, of course, to allow the whey to run out from under.

Spare hinge holding on a 2×4.

From the pic above, you can see that I have a hinge holding on a 2×4 that can be tipped up when it’s time to use it. The block under the 2×4 is simply for stability. Another critical piece is the wire coat hanger that goes from the top of the 2×4 back down to the front of the base. This is critical to hold things steady as we swap out various weights during use. You can see this in the next pic.

Wire coat hanger that hold the column steady.

Next, are the lever arm and the plunger. Both were made out of some scrap walnut that I had laying around. The shapes are my own. I just drew some sketches and based them off many of the presses I have seen on the internet. I knew what the press would have to do. Sometimes, based on the height of the cheese mould, the plunger may need to be adjusted up or down because we’ll always need the lever positioned in a way that we can hang various weights off it based on the amount of weight we need. As you can see, both are simply held together using some bolts I had laying around.

Walnut lever and plunger.

Here is the press fully assembled. When I use it, I hang the front edge over the side of the sink on my counter. It let’s the whey drip into the sink and I can leave the press set up for as long as it’s needed.

Assembled homemade cheese press.

Now, the quirks… or should I say quirk. There’s only one. We need to adjust the amount of weight that we are pressing with. Typically, you start low, say 5 or 10 pounds of weight, for 30 mins to an hour, then increase to maybe 20 pounds for an hour, then 50 pounds for 2 hours, 75 pounds for 5 hours, and then maybe even 100 pounds, etc. Different cheese have different weights and times. The idea is that when you press low, you are allowing the proper amount of whey to escape from around the curds. If we pressed with too much weight too soon, then we actually trap whey inside. The whey is acidic and it develops the cheese in different ways. The right amount of whey need to be evacuated at the proper rate so that acidity is properly managed. That said, I use my bathroom scale under the plunger and then I add weight with whatever I have laying around to get it there. It used to range from a dutch oven hanging on the lever with stuff in it, to my more modern approach of using real bench weights. Also, weight can be adjusted simply by where you position the weights on the lever arm. So, a 5lb weight could actually weight more when it’s moved out to the furthest end of the lever arm. Notice the blue rubber band on the lever arm. That simply holds whatever I have on the arm from slipping in the even the arm is angled downward slightly. If it’s too far downward, then I can adjust the plunger lower by selecting a higher hole on the plunger arm.

Pressing Esrom cheese at 75 pounds.
Checking the weight using my bathroom scale.

So that’s it. I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and maybe even hear about the press you made. I’m sure this could be improved upon. Who knows, I may one day buy a real cheese press but as long as this one keeps doing what it does, there’s no need. I do love upcycling and any excuse to re-use the stuff that I tend to squirrel away for the right need.

Pasteurize Milk via Sous Vide

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All you need to pasteurize milk at home is a stove, stainless steel pot, and a thermometer. You slowly warm the milk to 145F and hold the temperature there for 30 minutes. Once done, you’ll quickly cool the milk down to 40F (by putting the pot in a sink with ice water) and then store in the refrigerator.

Using a stovetop however, comes with a few things you’ll need to watch.

First, when warming your milk, you’ll want to stir it often to keep the heat dispersed throughout. If you let it sit too long without stirring, it can scorch (or scald). It can also scorch if you heat it too quickly. If you have a double-boiler, this is even better then a single pot and decreases the likelihood of scorching.

I put a dedicated thermo probe in the milk so that I know its temperature at all times. Once you’ve reached your target temp of 145F, you’ll need to watch the heat and keep stirring to keep the temperature up. This may entail increasing or decreasing the heat of your stove to keep the milk above 145F for the full 30 minutes.

Finally, when cooling, you’ll also want to stir in order to cool it down quickly. The longer it takes to cool, the better the opportunity for spoilage or bacterial contamination.

Enter sous vide

I decided to try pasteurization using my Anova immersion circulator. Since I use it regularly to make cheese, it made sense to try pasteurization with it as it almost eliminates the possibility of scorching. The longest part was getting the water bath up to 148F (I set the circulator to get the water bath about 3-4 degrees hotter than my target temperature of the milk). The next time I do it, I’ll get the circulator going ahead of time to get my water heading towards 148F. While scorching is not nearly as likely, stirring is still recommended just to disperse the heat evenly to get the milk up to the needed 145F. I still keep a dedicated thermo probe in the milk so that I know it’s at the proper temperature. Once the milk hit 145-146F, I was able to walk away from it and it maintained the steady temperature the entire time. The process was easy and I think I’ll move to use my sous vide circulator for my future pasteurization needs.

If you’re really a techie, here’s the Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker w WI-FI and Bluetooth, the same as mine, but the wifi allows you to control the unit remotely.

Your comments are always welcomed!

Make Esrom Cheese

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Here’s my first attempt at Esrom cheese. It’s a trappist-style cheese that should turn out creamy/semisoft… but not as far as brie or camembert. Named after an abbey of monks around the 12th century, it’s a washed rind cheese. What’s interesting is that we often don’t press a softer cheese, but rather let it sink into the mould. This one, however, gets pressed with increasing weight all the way up to 75 lbs. These are usually hard cheese weights. How we prepare the curd and stifle the acid development, we retain a lot of moisture. Even after pressing, the wheel is pretty pliable and needs to be handled delicately. It’s brined after pressing and before air-drying for a few days. The next regimen will take special attention to caring for the rind. It needs to be flipped twice a day and I’ll do the first wash when I see the geo tric kicking in. I’m bound to have unwanted molds start and that’s where it’ll take repeated washes to get that off and let the white and red molds kick in. See more info on pics.

If you want to try to make this cheese, here is a link to the recipe I used from Jim Wallace at Cheesemaking.com.

For cheesemaking, I now use the Anova immersion circulator and I don’t know what I’d do without it. You can really control the temperature, including holding the same temperature for as long as you need, and also manage the ramping of temperatures needed in most cheesemaking. If you’re really a techie, here’s the Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker w WI-FI and Bluetooth, the same unit, but has Wifi.

Venison Shank and Barley Stew

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Venison shank and barley stew is a wintertime essential. I took the shanks off the bone for this one because I used my own chicken stock and wanted to make it ready-to-eat at camp this weekend. These were braised all day at 200f.

My own recipe and process… always start with a cast iron dutch oven. Saute diced onions and minced garlic in hot oil (with cumin, and some garam masala). Once spices are bloomed, add your fresh cut carrots, salt and cook some more.

Add chicken fat and stock just enough to lube up while you scrape the brown bits up. Lay in the shanks… sprinkle with parsley and rosemary. Roll shanks around a little and finally top up with stock until they are covered. Toss in 4 bay leaves. Celery would have been great, but I was out!

Braise for as long as you have (all day at 200, or turn up to 225 if you want faster). At the point several hours in where you can take out a shank and shred it with a fork, shred all.

The collagen and tendons will pull right apart and the thickest ones turn to a goo that as cooked starts working as a thickener. I then add in quick cook barley. Love this stuff. Then two tablespoons of horseradish. I also dumped in some leftover peas (because they were there) a can of tomato paste and actually, some fresh cilantro this time. I was easy on it because I plan to cut fresh and garnish with it too.

Stir, taste, cook some more if you want. Serve on some crunchy rye or sourdough. This is a stick-to-your-ribs dish from those shanks!!

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The queen bee doesn’t decide what happens in a colony. The workers do. They adjust her feeding to make her do what the majority says. The queen can’t feed herself.