Pickled Ramps
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon coarse salt, plus more as needed
2 lb. ramps, cleaned, green leaves trimmed to 1″ past white and red parts
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon. mustard seed
2 teaspoons mixed peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon caraway seed
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1 bay leaf
Instructions:
Bring a 4-quart saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add ramps and cook until slightly tender, about 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, place ramps in an ice bath. Drain and place them in a sterilized 1-quart glass jar with airtight lid. Pour out the boiling water and combine 1 tablespoon salt, 1 cup water, vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, peppercorns, caraway seed, fennel seed, cumin seed, and bay leaf in the saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Pour mixture over the ramps and seal the jar. Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Jaime McLeod is the Web Content Editor for the Farmers' Almanac. She is a longtime journalist who has written for a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including MTV.com. She enjoys the outdoors, loves eating organic food, and is interested in all aspects of natural wellness.
If you notice a hole in the upper left-hand corner of your Farmers' Almanac, don't return it to the store! That hole isn't a defect; it's a part of history. Starting with the first edition of the Farmers' Almanac in 1818, readers used to nail holes into the corners to hang it up in their homes, barns, and outhouses (to provide both reading material and toilet paper). In 1910, the Almanac's publishers began pre-drilling holes in the corners to make it even easier for readers to keep all of that invaluable information (and paper) handy.
