The Stinky Onion That Made Chicago Famous
The magic moment has happened. Never mind that the early morning temperatures at Green City Market were in the 30s and it was one big parka party. The ramps are here and it is officially spring.
As most reading this food-obsessed newsletter probably know, the ramp is a wild-growing, foraged allium that ignores the April chill, making it the first crop to hit the Chicago area markets almost every year. Ellis Family Farms (Benton Harbor, Michigan) gets a shoutout for being the first to scratch our ramps itch this year.
It also has an important place in the city’s history: These plants grew prolifically on the lands at the southern end of Lake Michigan, and the native tribes called them “chicagou,” which has been interpreted as both “wild onion” and “stinky onion.” French explorers picked this up, and the name, spelled slightly different, stuck.
But this isn’t the only allium breaking news. When I arrived home from the market, I had a delivery from Three Sisters Garden (Kankakee, Illinois) that had my first green garlic (and a lot of it!) and garlic chives; Jacobson Family Farms (Antioch, Illinois) also had green garlic at Green City.
The chilly spring weather so far has slowed a lot of things, but forecasters say the temps will warm gradually this coming week, and the way-too-early forecast for next Saturday’s market day says the high will be in the 70s(!). If all this is correct, it should kick start asparagus, our region’s most sought-after early crop. Keep yer fingers crossed.
So my two-fisted haul today included (from lower left) an eggplant and tofu salad from Phoenix Bean Tofu (Chicago), music garlic and black pearl oyster mushrooms from Froggy Meadow Farm (Beloit, Wisconsin), Evercrisp apples from Ellis Family Farms, a forest of green garlic from Three Sisters Garden, a package of pastured pork chops from Avrom Farm (Ripon, Wisconsin), said ramps, spinach from Froggy Meadow Farm, bagels from Flat and Point (Chicago), and in the middle, garlic chives and pea tendrils from Three Sisters Garden.
I have a bit of food prep to do the remainder of the weekend.
More photos…
My Illinois Farmers Market Association totes visited friend Elsa Jacobson at the Phoenix Bean Tofu stand.
Radishes, spinach and oyster mushrooms served up by Froggy Meadow Farm.
Green garlic at the Jacobson Family Farm stand.
And of course, Dogs of the Farmers Market…