From the New York Times, April 8, 1998.

Art Margraf has obviously spent the minimum on packaging. A. S. Margraf's Fine foods of Brevard, N.C., has a line of vinegars and sauces packed in the equivalent of brown paper bags: plain glass bottles with plain white labels and no special graphics. But the condiments are flavored with ramps, the wild leeks of spring, giving them a deliciously garlicky kick.

Your local supermarket does not carry ramps? For your salad, then, there is ramp-flavored red wine vinegar, $4.80 for 10 ounces, and slightly mellower ramp-flavored cider vinegar, $4.55 for 10 ounces. Unlike ramps, which have a very short season, these vinegars are available all year.

The line includes a tangy Art's Best Ramp Steak Sauce ($7.15 for 10 ounces) and a smoky-sweet Aunt Sues's Wild Ramp Homestyle B.B.Q. Sauce ($4.55 for 15.5 ounces). There is also a salad dressing flavored with ramps, which no amount of shaking can emulsify.

The vinegars and sauces can be ordered by calling 1-888-468-3003 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; there is a shipping charge.

- Florence Fabricant, New York Times

From the 1998 Catalog.

A. S. Margraf's Fine Foods is the only food processor or manufacturer that we know of that makes food items from North Carolina's wild "ramps."  Local people do make a lot of foods with ramps, but not to sell, as we do.

Ramps are an herb.  They grow only at elevations above 3,000 feet, usually higher, on the north side of a mountain in a damp shaded area. They are dug, not pulled. They are a member of the lily family. Their Latin name is "allium tricoccum." They can only be harvested 4 to 6 weeks a year, in the spring.

A lot of small towns in western North Carolina have ramp festivals in the spring. Some are very much advertised. One is in Burnsville, northeast of Asheville, and another is in Waynesville, west of Asheville. Waynesville's, on the first weekend in May, is probably the best known.

There are some recipes in "Foxfire" and "Foxfire II" books.

At present we make a limited number of items from ramps. They include our 1997 award-winning N.C. Mountain State Fair BBQ Sauce and cider or red wine flavored vinegars. New in 1998 are our "Art's Best" Steak Sauce and "Art's Best" ramp cider or red wine Bread Dip'n Salad Dressing. We hope to make other food items from ramps in 1998. As there is a very short time to get ramps and make food items from them, there is a limited supply of these products year 'round. So buy them when you can!

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