Wild Ramp Rules - Harvest Sustainably Or Not At All

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Many years back, I discovered the joys of wild ramps. A few years later, I discovered how threatened they've become due to unsustainable harvesting :(

Ramps (allium tricoccum) are a slow-growing plant that's native to the northeast United States that takes many years to mature. As a result, digging them up by the roots threatens their survival as a species.

A clump of wild leeks growing near a streambed by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2011

RAMP RULES

Here are the basic rules you need to follow to help ensure the survival or wild ramps:

1. Don't tell people about any ramp patches you know of. As Gandalf said to Frodo, "Keep it secret. Keep it safe."

2. Don't dig them up by the roots! Mother Nature is watching and she will put you on the naughty list.

3. Harvest a single green leaf from fully mature plants in a big, healthy patch, taking only what you know you will actually use.

4. Say something if you see unsustainably harvested ramps for sale (as in anything other than just the greens) in stores or farm stands. Be polite in your educational efforts - you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. But I suspect a little gentle shaming via social media could be very effective if they are not inclined to listen to you in person...

5. Share this post with others to spread the word.

6. Plant your own patch of ramps and leave those growing on public lands alone.

We've planted some seeds and transplanted some young ramps to a suitable spot on our land over the years and I can attest to the fact that they grow and spread extremely slooooowly so we're just leaving them alone in hopes that someday they will grow into a flourishing patch like this one.

Pay dirt! A hillside of wild leeks by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2011

Here are some places you can order ramp seeds and sustainably-grown plants from. Keep in mind that they are only available at certain times of the year.

Ramp Farm in Richwood, West Virginia
304-846-4235 or rampfarm@frontier.com

Edge of the Woods Nursery in Orefield, PA
610-395-2570 or info@edgeofthewoodsnursery.com

Amanda's Native Plants in Dansville, NY
585-750-6288 or amandasgarden@frontier.net

Archewild in Quakertown, PA
855-752-6862 or contact@archewild.com

Happy growing and sustainable harvesting.

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Great Books!

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Although it's not food-related, I'm so pleased with my newly organized book recommendations that I'm gonna share them here anyway.

I was in the third grade when I started to read non-stop and I've never stopped. Books are both my window into the world and also my favorite method of escaping reality. My idea of paradise is a sunny room with a soft bed and a big pile of good books in it (my kids are conveniently occupied elsewhere in this fantasy.)

I recently spent way too much time combing through my GoodReads shelves, library loans, Amazon order history, and the wispy threads of my memory to put together this spreadsheet of all the books that have brought me the most pleasure and insight over the years.

I also added a second tab for all the books I want to read thanks to the wonderful recommendations of friends and family.

I am not allowing editing on this doc but I welcome you to recommend books you love via the comments on this post and you can always make a copy of the googledoc to mark up with your own likes and dislikes.

Although I've linked to the Amazon listings in my doc as that is how I research books, I urge you to support your local library and bookstore if you're fortunate enough to have one. I am particularly grateful for my library system's online catalog - it's wonderfully convenient! - though I always enjoy going into the actual building, too.

Please check it out. I hope you find something you like. 📖


Ruth Reichl's GIANT Chocolate Cake (at Normal Size)

Sunday, April 8, 2018

Ruth Reichl's Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

My mom had a birthday yesterday so I busted out the flour sifter and the cake pans to make something to give her year a sweet start. My 5-year-old assisted me - he really loves to bake.

Baking assistant by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

I chose this recipe from My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl - a book I enthusiastically devoured about two years ago and still return to for recipe inspiration.

Cover of My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2016

It features all the usual lovely suspects -- cocoa powder, butter, flour, sugar, eggs... But the reviews I read on Kim Severson's post about it in the NY Times Cooking section were so devotional that I had to try it.


After having some struggles in the past with the layers getting stuck in the pan, I followed Ruth's instructions of using both parchment paper circles AND a cake release and it was smooth sailing - those babies slid right out into my eager midwife's hands.

Making the cake release by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

Layers cooling by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

I made two changes to Ruth's recipe.

1. I cut the recipe in half to fit two 9-inch cake pans since my family is pretty small and I did not need enough cake to feed 20+ people.

2. I increased the frosting amounts a bit as I found that half of Ruth's originals led to a bit less frosting than I needed to easily cover a 9-inch layer cake and I'd hate for you to be similarly caught out. But you can find her original recipe on her site in case it's helpful.

Chocolate cream cheese frosting by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

It's delicious! Hope you enjoy it. Also, it freezes well, cut into individual slices and wrapped well against freezer burn...


-- print recipe --Ruth Reichl's GIANT Chocolate Cake
Recipe is halved and adapted slightly from My Kitchen Year

Ingredients

For the cake:

* 3/4 cups boiling water
* 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
* Slightly less than 1/2 cup whole milk
* 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 1 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
* 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
* 3/4 cup cane sugar
* 3 large eggs (try to find pasture-raised - they're much better for everyone involved)

For the frosting:

* 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
* 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
* 3/4 cup whipped cream cheese
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of two 9-inch cake pans with circles of parchment paper (I just put the pans on top of the paper and trace the bottoms with a pencil, then cut them out with scissors) and butter the paper. Drop a little flour (or cocoa powder) in the pans and turn to coat all sides then tap out the excess - this is called a "cake release" and goes a long way to helping you get the cakes out of the pans in one piece once they're done baking.

2. Whisk together boiling water and cocoa until smooth. Then whisk in the milk and vanilla. Sift together the flour,baking soda, and salt.
If possible in a standing mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add one egg at a time,beating well after each addition. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches and the cocoa mixture in 2, alternating flour-cocoa-flour-cocoa-flour. The batter may look curdled.

3. Pour half of the batter into each pan and smooth the tops. Bake in the middle of the oven until a tester comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the pan, 25-30 minutes (mine was done at 25). Turn the cakes out onto a rack to cool completely.

4. Make the frosting: melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water then let it cool to room temperature. Beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (I had regular cream cheese so I just beat it with my electric beaters for a while before adding the butter to it). Add the cooled chocolate and the remaining ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined. Assemble cake only when the cake layers have cooled completely.

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Saturday, April 28, 2018

Wild Ramp Rules - Harvest Sustainably Or Not At All

Many years back, I discovered the joys of wild ramps. A few years later, I discovered how threatened they've become due to unsustainable harvesting :(

Ramps (allium tricoccum) are a slow-growing plant that's native to the northeast United States that takes many years to mature. As a result, digging them up by the roots threatens their survival as a species.

A clump of wild leeks growing near a streambed by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2011

RAMP RULES

Here are the basic rules you need to follow to help ensure the survival or wild ramps:

1. Don't tell people about any ramp patches you know of. As Gandalf said to Frodo, "Keep it secret. Keep it safe."

2. Don't dig them up by the roots! Mother Nature is watching and she will put you on the naughty list.

3. Harvest a single green leaf from fully mature plants in a big, healthy patch, taking only what you know you will actually use.

4. Say something if you see unsustainably harvested ramps for sale (as in anything other than just the greens) in stores or farm stands. Be polite in your educational efforts - you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. But I suspect a little gentle shaming via social media could be very effective if they are not inclined to listen to you in person...

5. Share this post with others to spread the word.

6. Plant your own patch of ramps and leave those growing on public lands alone.

We've planted some seeds and transplanted some young ramps to a suitable spot on our land over the years and I can attest to the fact that they grow and spread extremely slooooowly so we're just leaving them alone in hopes that someday they will grow into a flourishing patch like this one.

Pay dirt! A hillside of wild leeks by Eve Fox, Garden of Eating blog, copyright 2011

Here are some places you can order ramp seeds and sustainably-grown plants from. Keep in mind that they are only available at certain times of the year.

Ramp Farm in Richwood, West Virginia
304-846-4235 or rampfarm@frontier.com

Edge of the Woods Nursery in Orefield, PA
610-395-2570 or info@edgeofthewoodsnursery.com

Amanda's Native Plants in Dansville, NY
585-750-6288 or amandasgarden@frontier.net

Archewild in Quakertown, PA
855-752-6862 or contact@archewild.com

Happy growing and sustainable harvesting.

You might also like:



Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Great Books!

Although it's not food-related, I'm so pleased with my newly organized book recommendations that I'm gonna share them here anyway.

I was in the third grade when I started to read non-stop and I've never stopped. Books are both my window into the world and also my favorite method of escaping reality. My idea of paradise is a sunny room with a soft bed and a big pile of good books in it (my kids are conveniently occupied elsewhere in this fantasy.)

I recently spent way too much time combing through my GoodReads shelves, library loans, Amazon order history, and the wispy threads of my memory to put together this spreadsheet of all the books that have brought me the most pleasure and insight over the years.

I also added a second tab for all the books I want to read thanks to the wonderful recommendations of friends and family.

I am not allowing editing on this doc but I welcome you to recommend books you love via the comments on this post and you can always make a copy of the googledoc to mark up with your own likes and dislikes.

Although I've linked to the Amazon listings in my doc as that is how I research books, I urge you to support your local library and bookstore if you're fortunate enough to have one. I am particularly grateful for my library system's online catalog - it's wonderfully convenient! - though I always enjoy going into the actual building, too.

Please check it out. I hope you find something you like. 📖


Sunday, April 8, 2018

Ruth Reichl's GIANT Chocolate Cake (at Normal Size)

Ruth Reichl's Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

My mom had a birthday yesterday so I busted out the flour sifter and the cake pans to make something to give her year a sweet start. My 5-year-old assisted me - he really loves to bake.

Baking assistant by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

I chose this recipe from My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl - a book I enthusiastically devoured about two years ago and still return to for recipe inspiration.

Cover of My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2016

It features all the usual lovely suspects -- cocoa powder, butter, flour, sugar, eggs... But the reviews I read on Kim Severson's post about it in the NY Times Cooking section were so devotional that I had to try it.


After having some struggles in the past with the layers getting stuck in the pan, I followed Ruth's instructions of using both parchment paper circles AND a cake release and it was smooth sailing - those babies slid right out into my eager midwife's hands.

Making the cake release by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

Layers cooling by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

I made two changes to Ruth's recipe.

1. I cut the recipe in half to fit two 9-inch cake pans since my family is pretty small and I did not need enough cake to feed 20+ people.

2. I increased the frosting amounts a bit as I found that half of Ruth's originals led to a bit less frosting than I needed to easily cover a 9-inch layer cake and I'd hate for you to be similarly caught out. But you can find her original recipe on her site in case it's helpful.

Chocolate cream cheese frosting by Eve Fox, the Garden of Eating, copyright 2018

It's delicious! Hope you enjoy it. Also, it freezes well, cut into individual slices and wrapped well against freezer burn...


-- print recipe --Ruth Reichl's GIANT Chocolate Cake
Recipe is halved and adapted slightly from My Kitchen Year

Ingredients

For the cake:

* 3/4 cups boiling water
* 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
* Slightly less than 1/2 cup whole milk
* 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 1 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
* 3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
* 3/4 cup cane sugar
* 3 large eggs (try to find pasture-raised - they're much better for everyone involved)

For the frosting:

* 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
* 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
* 3/4 cup whipped cream cheese
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of two 9-inch cake pans with circles of parchment paper (I just put the pans on top of the paper and trace the bottoms with a pencil, then cut them out with scissors) and butter the paper. Drop a little flour (or cocoa powder) in the pans and turn to coat all sides then tap out the excess - this is called a "cake release" and goes a long way to helping you get the cakes out of the pans in one piece once they're done baking.

2. Whisk together boiling water and cocoa until smooth. Then whisk in the milk and vanilla. Sift together the flour,baking soda, and salt.
If possible in a standing mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add one egg at a time,beating well after each addition. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches and the cocoa mixture in 2, alternating flour-cocoa-flour-cocoa-flour. The batter may look curdled.

3. Pour half of the batter into each pan and smooth the tops. Bake in the middle of the oven until a tester comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the pan, 25-30 minutes (mine was done at 25). Turn the cakes out onto a rack to cool completely.

4. Make the frosting: melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water then let it cool to room temperature. Beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy (I had regular cream cheese so I just beat it with my electric beaters for a while before adding the butter to it). Add the cooled chocolate and the remaining ingredients and beat until thoroughly combined. Assemble cake only when the cake layers have cooled completely.

You might also like: