Wild Leeks.

[Horsefeathers]

When I lived in upstate New York every spring was Ham and leeks dinner time.Local fire houses and various organisations sponsored the dinners.I went from town to town trying several.  Leeks come up in the early spring in wooded hillsides. the leaves are green ,flat rabbit ear shaped. thy are cooked in with the ham. Also eaten raw.  I now live in Tennessee  where I believe they are called "RAMPS". any one familiar with hem in the South?  Horsefeathers.

[blind ear]

I have seen them a couple of times in central Mississippi but I didn't know what they were until later. I can't remember where I saw them. bummer. I love every kind of onion and garlic that I have ever tried, especially when ham is involved. Will be keeping my eye out now. ear

[223fan]

I know this is an old thread but.Ramps are dug here every spring.What you describe sure sounds like ramps. I like them raw,cooked in bacon greese,fried in with eggs,or with a mess of trout,now that I think about it you can't mess a ramp up.The only thing some don't like about them is after a person eats them you can smell them on the person for about a day.

[Drilling Man]

  I hve LOT'S of leeks/ramps in one of my woodlots, i like to stuff them in a ham before cooking it!  Here's a smaller one,
 

 
  Also, i freeze some of them for winter too...
 
  DM

[briarpatch]

If we eat ramps and went to school they would send us home.

[Drilling Man]

  You must of went to one of those sissy city schools!  lol
 
  DM

[briarpatch]

I had a cousin that would get it every year. He would eat a  big bate of ramps and next day at school he'd just blow up through the class and they would tell the teacher. Out he would go.
Just an old North Carolina mountain school. Most kids probably ate them some did not.
After I was married me and my cousins and friends would go to the woods for a few days each spring and eat till we were sick. The reason we went to the woods was most of our wives hated them.
We would lay around, eat ramps, pass gas and tell lies for a few days. we smelled so bad I doubt you could run a bear through camp.
I got some good stories about ramp eating, just to lazy to type them.

[smokehouserex]

 
 
  I like to go to the ramp festivals in NC. All of mom and dads people lived in western NC, we would go to the fire dept. in Robbinsville to eat trout and ramps. When we got back home nobody wanted to ride in the truck for a few days.   They are good with cornbread, beans and fatback and a good glass of milk.
 Thanks for reminding me of the RAMPS, I enjoyed the posts.
  HM

[briarpatch]

 One story:
We had been to the woods eating ramps for 3 solid days. Some of the guys had to work the following Monday morning but I had the day off. While the ones that had to work slacked off the rest kept digging and eating ramps.
 I love them raw, just dip them in salt and eat with a bisque, nothing better. They do make your breath smell a lot worse.
For those of you that dont know what a ramp smells like on your breath. Take the worst smelling thing you can think of and magnify it by 10,000,000 and you have a ramp or close to it.
On Sunday evening we came out of the woods and headed home. My wife was at her mothers so I would have a day or two to detox.
At that time I worked as a correctional officer and as stated earlier I had Monday off.
When I got home and was cleaning up the phone rang and it was the prison where I worked and they needed me right now.
We were under orders. If we were called and it was an emergency,.. which it was. To get to the unit as fast as we could.
I lived 50 miles from the unit and that gave me an excuse to air out my 1970 lemans Pontiac. I ran wide tires on it just for these occasions, it set the cuves better on the way to the unit.
      A few miles from my house a new NC State Patrolman had set himself a speed trap,  I went flying through it and he came out lights, siren, the works.
The other HP’s knew me and would usually escort me to the unit or not bother to chase. Some times they had received the call too and were on their way there and we would race.
I could tell the way this guy was chasing me he was serious so I pulled over to let him know what was going on.
When he got out of his car he was yelling and screaming at me. He was so mad I couldn’t  understand him. He came running up to the car and stuck his head in the window yelling.
          I yelled back…. I am needed at the prison right in his face. (Did not think of the ramps)
He ran backward about 15 or 20 feet holding his nose with profanity coming from every pore. What the blank is that blankity blank smell? Blank, blank you’ve made me sick blank blank….What is that blankity blank smell? Are you ok? Blank blankity, blank.  Whats in that blanking car?..... blankity, blank.
   I yelled ramps…   He yelled still holding his nose. What’s a blankity blank ramp?
I started laughing and could not talk to him. He was kicking rocks and cursing. He had the dangest look on his face I can see to this day.
He was not about to come to the car. With a lot more curseing he stumbled to his car holding his nose, got in and left me sitting there in a big cloud of dust, laughing so hard I couldn’t hardly drive.
He never asked for so much as a piece of paper or anything.
If you ever go through a road check point, eat some ramps before you go and they will not look in your car. 

[charles p]

Ramps appear about the time spring primary voting takes place.  Legend says that when a politician eats ramps, he can't tell a lie.  NC has a ramp festival and it was a popular campain stop for candidates.

[bobg]

  My Mother and Aunt went to all the leek and ham dinners they could find. The old man would sleep on the couch for a couple nights when Mom came home from one.