Ramps and morels!

Last night I went to Volt and talked to Bryan Voltaggio about setting up our interview. I am going to see if I can get Dan to do photos, because my camera is blah.

Normally I just jump into things, but I really wanted to prepare well. I am working on the interview questions now. If you have one you'd like me to ask, put it in the comments.

In the meantime, let me tell you about the little puff pastry (sorry the pic is horrible) that I ate at Volt last night. It was made with ramps and morels. The ramps were from West Virginia and the morels were from Oregon. Ramps are a wild leek, considered to be quite a delicacy (if you have read Barbara Kingsolver then you know what I am talking about). I don't think they grow wild in Frederick- correct me if I am wrong- but they do grow in Western Maryland. Here in Frederick, we get wild garlic tops, which are just as delicious in their own way (and will be getting ripe around the end of the month). As for morels (wild mushrooms), though they have not quite hit here yet this season, they grow everywhere in the woods in this region.

A great resource for morels is the Morel Progression Sighting Map, which is updated weekly every year as the morels become available so that you can see where they are in season. They are only around for about a month. Right now, they are in Southern Virginia and Southern Ohio, so we are just around the corner. Keep your eyes peeled! And of course never eat a mushroom you can't ID, blah blah blah. I got the morel pic off the Internet. It isn't mine. So don't ask about my secret spot. I don't have one. I can't find them to save my life. An old timer once pointed one out to me that was huge- about 6 or 8 inches high- and I still couldn't see it. But expect to see Morels in the next week or two- maybe a little later because of the weather. They will be here until around the middle of May.

Hooray for wild foods!