Recipe: Wild Ramp Pesto

By Erin McKenna Breglia, Landis Gardener

Erin making pesto

Wild ramps are a favorite vegetable we wait for each spring. These mini onion bulbs taste like a cross between an onion and garlic and can be eaten raw or cooked. One of our favorite dishes to make with the above ground greens is a ramp pesto. We harvest the leaves when they are about 6” tall, leaving the bulbs intact underground.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups (2 handfuls) of fresh ramp greens, rinsed
  • 1/4 cup of organic almonds, walnuts, pecans or pine nuts
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup organic extra virgin olive oil
Blanch the ramp greens. To blanch the greens, you will need to set up a pot of boiling water and a bowl of ice water. Boil the greens for 1 minute and then plunge them into the ice bath for one minute. Squeeze out the excess liquid and lay out to dry until time to use them. Use a mortar and pestle to crush the three garlic cloves as much as possible. Add the nuts to the garlic and crush until a paste is created. Chop the ramp greens. Add them and the Parmesan cheese to the garlic/nut paste. Pound, crush, and mix them together, about 10 minutes, to combine. Incorporate the olive oil, a little at a time to fully mix. You can add more to your liking. Use fresh or freeze for up to 6 months.

This pesto goes well with pasta, fish, potatoes, sweet potato, chicken, risotto, bread… the possibilities are endless!


Summer 2022

Volume 40 , Number 2

Share this

The Latest from Landis

Oct 08, 2025 | Louise Polli

Celebrating the Life of Anne Donnelly

If you've ever attended the Arboretum's plant sales, you undoubtedly thought everything ran quite smoothly... read more

Oct 04, 2025 | Shayne Mitchell

News & Muse from the Bluebird Trail

All nest monitoring is conducted in accordance with The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Nestwatch Nest... read more

Oct 04, 2025 | Morgan McClary

Spotlight on Sponsors: Townline Equipment

Although Townline Equipment serves six locations across New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, at its... read more

Oct 04, 2025 | Nolan Marciniec

Landis Portraits: Terrence Bevins

Terrence Bevins speculated that he has been coming to the Arboretum “almost since birth.” The... read more

Oct 04, 2025 | Erin McKenna Breglia

From the Garden: Where Are the Peonies?

It started slow, as is often the case when you take something for granted without... read more

Oct 04, 2025 | Fred Breglia

From the Director’s Desk: Needle Cast and Other Conifer Threats

Scientists estimate that 1 in 6 US tree species are at risk of extinction, largely... read more

News Archive