Ramps or wild onions?

[Star1pup]

I was treated to my first soup with ramps yesterday and it was delicious. I heard some call them wild onions, but they have a wider leaf. On my property we have a bunch of onion tasting greens that look a lot like chives, but I was told they also are wild onions. These look like thinner versions of the green stalks of our garden onion.

Can anyone clarify?

[Ernie]

I'm a huge fan of wild onions. They typically are smaller but have a lot more concentrated flavor. Pull them up and sniff the root. If it smells like an onion, it's an onion. Nothing else in nature has that smell, so I've been told (and read, and tested, and I'm still breathing).

Be careful, however, of where you get the wild onions/leeks/garlic. Those plants draw heavy metals out of the soil like crazy. I found an enormous patch of wild onions growing in a forest preserve near Chicago my first year here and enjoyed them immensely (harvesting heavily when the rangers aren't around). Then later I figured out that "forest preserve" near Chicago means "old landfill they can't build subdivisions on". I figure I've gotten a lifetime's supply of lead, arsenic, and mercury out of those wild onions.

[Rick]

We have these plants here in Ga. They have a small bulb that looks and tastes (sort of) like an onion.

http://www.rootgrafix.com/herbalnexus/p_oniong.htm

I've eaten them, but they didn't really agree with me.

[AlchemyAcres]

I was treated to my first soup with ramps yesterday and it was delicious. *I heard some call them wild onions, but they have a wider leaf. *On my property we have a bunch of onion tasting greens that look a lot like chives, but I was told they also are wild onions. *These look like thinner versions of the green stalks of our garden onion.

Can anyone clarify?

"Wild onion" is a very general term.
Ramps are called "wild leeks" in this area.

There are dozens of species and hundreds of varieties of wild onions (alliums) in this country.

~Martin

[DM]

I have a LOT of "leeks" in my back woodlot, next time i harvest some, i'll try to remember to take a camera with me...

DM

[Funkhouser]

The chive-like stalks of wild onion grow like grass up from my back yard/garden area. I've tasted them before, but find they didn't agree with me. They smell great, and help keep the critter count low, but my wife can't stand the scent, especially after I've mowed! :-/

[bookwormom]

huh, wait til you taste the milk after your cow eats them. ;)