The Ramp: Just Another Stinky Mountain Onion Dinner

If you are not from West Virginia, or anywhere near the Appalachian Mountains, I'm sure your wondering what I'm talking about. Here in West Virginia and the surrounding areas, we have a local delicacy known as the Ramp. A Ramp is a wild onion that only grows in the higher high elevations. You won't find a Jersey Ramp. where you buy Jersey Tomatoes. Ramps start sprouting in the mountain forests during March and April. Their bulbs resemble a scallion, and they have wide flat leaves with purple streaks.

Although ramps can be found all along the Appalachian Mountain range, here in West Virginia, they are celebrated by numerous ramp festivals and ramp dinners. Come Spring, the local newspapers advertise three or four ramp dinners a week, even in the smallest towns. There are held as fundraisers for churches and firehouses, among other things.

Why would anyone hold an onion festival? Ramps or "stinky onions" are an Appalachian heritage. For early settlers of the mountainous regions of WV, ramps were the first edible vegetable available after a long cold winter. It is a tradition to go to the woods in the early spring and dig up some ramps. You can easily just rinse them in the nearby creek to get rid of the soil since Ramps seem to conveniently grow near them.

Ramps are a particularly stinky onion. Cooked, they smell like a very strong mixture of onions and garlic. Once you eat ramps, don't expect the smell to go away any time soon. It seems to emanate from your body for several days after you have eaten even a small portion. We celebrate them, no matter how strong an odor the ramps produce because they are a century old mountain tradition. And around these parts, anything that stays for over a hundred years is worth celebrating. Ramps are a versatile food, and can be used in place of an onion. They are often fried with potatoes, or used in soups. Ramps have even started becoming popular with celebrity chefs as an exotic ingredient.

The city of Elkins, West Virginia hosts the "Annual Ramp Festival" during the last weekend in April of each year. This festival features a ramp dinner and ramp cook-off contest, and ramps prepared every way possible.

Richwood WV, a city that calls itself "The Ramp Capitol" holds a well attended Ramp Fest every April also. Richwood believes their town is the birthplace of the Ramp Festivals for the United States and the world. Claiming to be the first in the world at many things also seems to be a West Virginia tradition and in most cases they are.

If you would like to try this homegrown local delicacy, visit West Virginia in the early Spring. Chances are, a Ramp Festival or Ramp Dinner is coming to a Church or Firehouse near you.