Spring!! Ramps!!

Native Americans knew ramps well. They used them in decoctions to treat coughs and colds, and they made a poultice from the juice of the strong summer bulbs to alleviate the pain and itching of bee stings. The Menomini called them pikwute sikakushia (skunk plant), and they referred to an area near the southern shore of Lake Michigan, where ramps grew abundantly, as CicagaWuni or shikako (skunk place). The term was later applied to a white settlement now known as Chicago.

The late wild foods evangelist Euell Gibbons considered ramps "the sweetest and the best of the wild onions. They have a mild onion flavor with a hint of garlic, which I find delicious." The mildness is relative, however. Though definitely more delicate than the typical wild onion or garlic, ramp greens are decidedly more pronounced and lingering in flavor (though less hot) than ordinary cooking onions.