I might be the last person on the foodie internet who had not eaten ramps before this week, but there they were-- lovely wild West Virginia ramps at the farmer's market. Ramps have a short season- April-May-- and they are hard to cultivate. They are actually foraged in the woods, and common to Appalachia. Their wildness and short season makes them extra precious, so many people are obsessed with them and there is a proliferation of recipes designed to preserve the ramps, such as pesto and compound butters. Basically, preparations you can freeze. After reading a lot of recipes, it occurred to me there are similar goals and ingredients as guacamole-- infusing spicy savory aromatics into a rich and buttery base. And if you've eaten guacamole from a molcajete, you have experienced the sublime melding of flavors that happens when you pulverize onion, lime, herbs, and chiles into a sauce before combining with buttery avocado. I can't think of a better way to get flavors into compound butter than the volcanic rock of the molcajete. (If you don't have one, you could use a mortar and pestle, but it means more work for you.) I am here to report, this was a success! —Meredith
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