Dear Customers,
When the calendar page flips up from March to April you can almost hear a collective sigh from those of us who have had their fill of winter! April can be cold, windy, rainy and blessed with the occasional persistent snow squall, but – by and large – we are on the home stretch now!
The town also seems to wake up from its slumber as fishermen patrol the banks of the lakes and rivers, the sounds of baseball and softball practices echo off town hill most nights and scores of young men and women jog up and down the streets of Smethport after school, preparing for the spring track season.
I know that at some point during this 30-day month of the young year, I’ll be mowing the lawn, hosing off dust-covered patio furniture and soaking up as much sunshine as I possibly can. It’s almost as if we’ve been let out of prison after a several months stay– a prison constructed from four walls, encased in ice and snow!
April is also the month when wild leeks begin to pop up all over the commonwealth. Of course, avid leek diggers may find a patch earlier than that, but mid-April is generally considered the start of the leek season. Locally, they’re known as leeks but elsewhere they can be called “wild onions” or “ramps”.
My mother enjoyed just cutting them up in her scrambled eggs, but the fact remains that there is an endless supply of recipes that welcome a Pennsylvania Wilds leek! Here at Costa’s Supermarket, we stockpile and even freeze them because the wild leek season is pretty much over by Memorial Day.
We add them to our famous Italian sausage to create a savory blend of pork, spices and “wild onions”. We freeze them, because it extends the length of time we can offer “Leek Sausages” into the summer and beyond. Start looking in our meat case over the next couple of weeks for the “sweetest and best of the wild onions” fused with the best Italian sausage around!