Ramping up

When the local and seasonal food bubble bursts, it's going to be ugly. I see here that people are paying $15 a pound at the New York greenmarket to get the first ramps of the season. Mind you, these things lack subtlety, to say the least, as nice as it is to see something green and edible poke from the ground in the east.

And for your $15, don't think you're getting the good stuff:

None growing here in waaaay upstate yet...but any day now, we think. We hope, too.
I gotta tell you, they are one thing after being transported six-ten hours by truck to your market; they are a whole different something 20 minutes out of the dirt, dipped in salt crystals and eaten with fresh bread and butter.

That said the price will plummet over the next few weeks before they're inedible. I'll still be holding out for something I find a little tastier.