Ellen Silverman

It is high season for ramps, the pungent wild leeks that grow throughout the Appalachian and Catskill mountains. Ellen Silverman sent us photos of the sublime ramp butter she was given by a friend, with an utterly simple recipe that will keep you in ramp heaven for days. She wrote this in her email:

Cyd McDowell is an amazing food stylist and lover of all things food. She picked the ramps on her property upstate she lives near Great Barrington. All she did was chop the ramps put them in the food processor with good salted butter (I think she used Plugra)… and process. She brought the butter to me when we met for a coffee; it was in a little glass bowl with a round of natural wax paper placed on the top.

We ate it on everything for three nights…on fish sauteed one night and panko-fried another, roasted chicken, steamed clams, bread, asparagus, potatoes; we licked the remains off of our fingers! Now, very regrettably, we have finished it…

What a gift!!! We could imagine ramp butter in risottos, on pasta, on grilled meats, to cook scrambled or fried eggs in, and of course, on toast

Here’s a rough little recipe that allows you to gauge the “rampiness” of the butter, and calibrate it as you wish:

Ellen Silverman

Method/Recipe-ette: Ramp Butter

Trim the root ends off a handful of ramps; if they still have dirt on them, wash and spin them dry in a salad spinner. Chop the ramps, both bulb and leaves, and add to the workbowl of a food processor. Pulse to chop them a bit more then add some good butter and process; taste and add more butter until you get the flavor you like. If the butter isn’t salted, add sea salt to taste.

lauriesmithphoto.com

Related posts: ramp supper 2011 (with how-to and recipe)

serious butter (if you can’t buy it, make it)

canal house cooking vol 6: crax & butter for dinner!!!

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10 replies on “how to make ramp or spring onion butter (recipe)

  1. Oh my, that looks delicious. Leave it to Cyd! I’m going to try this with some young spring onions.

  2. Every day – such pleasures come from your blog. My other half often rings and says ‘have you read it yet’. Just fantastic. Cassandra

  3. Hey, THANK YOU SO MUCH! That means a lot to us.

  4. I had never heard of ramps until recently. I must try to find them – I’m a sucker for any kind of bruscetta and this one looks so fresh and sunny. Perfect picnic fare!

  5. I just made some ramp butter and ate it on potato chips. Unbelievable. A play on onion dip only of a whole other order.

  6. This recipe looks amazing! Wish I would have thought about it when ramps were plenty in April. Already looking forward to next year…

  7. I made a batch of ramp butter using just a few scraggly ramps – maybe 7 or 8, which I bought in a market in desperation (not the farmer’s market). You may be able to find some East Coast ramps because they come in later than the ones growing farther west. The butter is really fantastic stuff. I ate it on potato chips to start. YIKES! Delish.

  8. Pickle some ramps and drop one into a martini — voila rampitini! Yum.

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