Wild spring onions

[wildeyed]

Are they edible? I have a recipe that calls for chives. I don't have any, but I have a yard full of wild spring onions. Organically grown lawn, of course. Can I use these instead of the chives?

[Ecumenist]

1. Aren't wild onions called "ramps" ?

As far as I know, I believe they're edible, if that's what they are. Are you back east?

[wildeyed]

5. SE, in NC.

Maybe I should try a few, see if I keel over before feeding them to the kids. :P

[Warpy]

7. Your kids will rebel

NC has a ramp eating and recipe contest in some dinky town, can't remember where it is. It's a southern macho thang, which lets you know just how strong those wild onions are.

I remember eating ramp when I was a kid in NC. It's incredibly strong, so a very light hand is needed if you're going to substitute it for other oniony stuff and your diners must love onion flavor. Ramp also has a peppery undertone, gives a real bite to foods. Try a piece by itself, your eyes will water, guaranteed.

I recall its being rather nice in otherwise bland fare like potato pancakes and mashed potatoes. It can also be hidden in spaghetti sauce quite successfully. A light touch is essential.

I loved it when people mowed their lawns there and that onion smell mixed with that newly cut grass smell. Made me hungry every time.

[wildeyed]

8. Yes, it is strong.

I have very pungent breath right now.

The kids will eat it as long as I don't use too heavy a hand. They had andouille sausage, aka spicy hot dogs, last night for dinner, so a little oniony flavor should be fine. If they don't like it, that is fine, too. Not like they are wasting away or anything.

[NMDemDist2]

2. check this link out with pics of edible plants

http://foragingpictures.com/#E

[Ecumenist]

9. I'm in northern Californa....

And although we have some native wild onions, I don't think they're ramps, as I don't think they grow here. Correct me, if I'm wrong...

[NMDemDist2]

10. i have (somewhere) a whole book of native edible plants in CA n/t

[wryter2000]

11. I'm in Oakland

Do I have native onions somewhere? I discovered recently I have poke sallet growing in my yard. A huge weed that's actually poisonous, but the tender leaves can be eaten if their cooked and rinsed a couple of times. I'd have to be really hungry to try that.

[yellerpup]

3. My Cherokee grandfather used to call wild onions and eggs a spring tonic.

When my husband and I moved to N. Carolina in Feb 2004 our rented double-wide was surrounded by banks of wild onions. I dug them up, bulb and all, washed them carefully, trimmed them severely, blanched the bulbs in salted water until they were tender, then drained them well and turned them into butter melted in a cast iron skillet. When the temperature was hot enough to fry eggs, I dumped beaten eggs into the wild onions and scrambled until they were done. Wild onions appear early in the spring at roughly the same time as wild birds begin to lay eggs. This dish has a good shot of nutrition through both the wild onions (vitamins) and eggs (protein). My family made a feast of this dish every sspring when I was growing up in Oklahoma. P.S. This is a primitive American dish and is very labor intensive.

[wildeyed]

4. Mmmm, that sounds good.

I am making chicken salad, but I will try the wild onion omelet later. :)

[yellerpup]

6. Chicken salad is one of my favorites.

Enjoy your lunch today!

[japple]

12. They sound like ramps, and there are Ramp Festivals

in Western North Carolina every spring. I think there's one in Waynesville and one near Banner Elk (where I used to live). Ramps are a member of the lily or wild leek family. They are very good, but stronger than garlic. If you eat them raw or pickled, the odor hangs around a few days. They're milder if cooked. Old timers always looked forward to getting their first greens of the year and were happy when the poke salat and ramps appeared. Good with cornbread. Many people, as mentioned above, scramble them with eggs.

[yellerpup]

16. Are ramps are like the baby garlic get the in the farmer's markets

in this area? (I've moved from NC back to NY) I love to slice the translucent bulbs of sweet, young garlic into salads, marinades, and omelets. These look a little like scallions, but when you slice into the bulb, it sections like a head of garlic and does not resemble an onion at all on the inside. We also get fiddlehead ferns, which are an incredible treat in salads.

[Lorax]

13. My daughter is insane for onions

She's 14 now but has loved onions since she was little. The stinkier the better. I never thought of buying her ramp. Is this something I might find at the farmer's market in Maryland?

[wildeyed]

15. I dunno, but they are probably growing in your yard.

They send up long shoots in early spring that grow up higher than the grass. If you break the stem they smell oniony. If you pull them up, there is a small bulb on the end. The ones that grow in my yard are almost over, but MD is a tad cooler, so yours are probably still going strong.

[Lorax]

19. No Way!

I didn't know that's what those things are! I have a ton of them in my yard!

[politicat]

14. Don't let the cows have them.

Wild onion milk is the nastiest substance on the planet. It doesn't even make good cheese.

And don't eat them if you're nursing - my niece gave her mother quite the hairy eyeball at about three months of age because my sister had eaten wild onions.

[yellerpup]

17. Amen to that!

Nothing funks up milk more than onions in the mix!

[DawgHouse]

18. I read somewhere that what we think are wild onions

is actually wild garlic. Or it could be star of bethlehem.

http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/otgum.htm
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/allvi.htm