A few weeks ago, I bought a handful of ramps at Fairway. The ramp season, which begins in April, is only a few weeks long. I just barely caught the end of it. But I bought my ramps on the way home from work on a weeknight, at about 11:00 p.m., and never cooked them. I just snapped a photo and tossed them in the fridge. A week later, they were gone. Fairway wasn't stocking them anymore. I resigned to waiting another year for this most evanescent member of the leek family.

Tonight on the way home from work I stopped by the Whole Foods Market in the Time Warner Center to pick up some fresh fruit for tomorrow. I was walking through the produce section, when I saw these: Canadian ramps. Ramps, also known as wild leeks, grow in the forests of the Appalachian range, with the mountain regions of West Virginia being most famous for their ramp festivals. Apparently ramp season doesn't just end all at once; it moves northward to Canada. The Canadian ramps are slightly slimmer than their southern cousins, but just as full-flavored.

Ramps have a potent garlicky, oniony flavor, which is rather difficult to tame. Some enjoy their brash, stinging aroma and taste, but for most of us ramps require a long, slow cooking process to mellow and sweeten them. In fact, overconsumption of raw ramps is said to cause a pungent odor to exude from the pores of the consumer. I like to stew my ramps: brown them lightly in a little butter and then add some chicken stock, simmering them for about a half hour. When you first heat the ramps the leaves will inflate like a balloon; this is just the water in them being converted into steam and trapped between the layers of the leaves. As you cook the steam will escape and your ramps will return to normal.

Both the bulb and the leaves of the ramp can be eaten, but there is a thin, slimy film surrounding the bulb of un-cleaned ramps that must be removed before cooking (you can pull it off like a sleeve). Any spindly roots and their root cap must also be trimmed away before cooking. You can find Canadian ramps at Whole Foods Columbus Circle for $9.95/lb. (Don't worry; you couldn't possibly eat more than a quarter pound of these little stinkers).