Fiddlehead season

[Mooseherder]

We were very fortunate to come into the small window that is called fiddlehead season while on vacation.
It doesn't seem to last about a week more or less depending on weather.
I knew they were there because I could see we had Ostrich ferns on our stream banks but we would always be late on arrival.  Once they unfurl, it's over.  It happens quickly.  You can miss it by hours in a single day.


 

I had cut a couple tops off these Tea Jugs, they were great for carrying and gathering.


  

  

 

There was some growing on my old bridge that was mostly under water.


 

Here is one of the small feeders going into the stream.


 

Then we lay them out and let the wind blow off the burlap off them.
Then they get rinsed real good and refrigerated.


 

We gathered twice a couple days apart and got to eat them 5 times.
What a treat.

[Mooseherder]

This is what we gathered the first outing.
We gave half of them away.


 

Then the second outing.


 

Cooking them in a pot on my grill was no issue.
Just a little water, butter and salt simmered until tender.
mmmmmmmmm...good!

[Patty]

Those things look familiar, do they only grow up in the northeast?  What fern are they when they unfurl? Are all ferns edible before they unfurl their leaves? So many questions!

They look tasty!

[Mooseherder]

I don't think all ferns are good to eat.
The ostrich ferns definitely are though. ;)
I don't know if these grow anywhere but the northeast.

[thecfarm]

Too green for me. I have only seen one person selling them this year. See them parked on a turn off with a table and a big pile of fiddleheads.
I have no idea what kind of ferns those fiddle heads are. I never paid that much attention to them. But what little I do know,there is only a certain kind that can be eaten, or taste good. I ahve no idea how far South they grow. Others states have Grits we have Fiddleheads. Most people keep thier sites a secret.

[Cutting Edge]

Moose,

What do they taste similar to, if anything?

Those things look familiar, do they only grow up in the northeast?  What fern are they when they unfurl? Are all ferns edible before they unfurl their leaves? So many questions!

They look tasty!

I'm in the same boat... :D

[Mooseherder]

I guess you could say the taste and texture is somewhat similiar to asparagus but does have a distinct flavor of it's own.

[RynSmith]

Google tells me that it is mainly the ostrich fern fiddleheads which are edible and Plants tells me that Patty may be in luck! 

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MAST

[Patty]

Cool!    I will have to watch for them. Thanks!

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah the ostrich ferns are what we pick. There are lots of fern species in the wet places like the cinnamon and interrupted ferns and lady ferns, which can't be eaten. They also grow in BC, I've picked them there and also saw natives pick them out there on the Skeena. They only seem to grow near the settlements here. Out in the back country I never see ostrich ferns. And animals won't touch them. ;) There was an article I posted this winter about them that said fiddleheads are one of them super foods, full of good stuff. ;D Call'm organic and they fetch $12/lb in Toronto. They are all organic, no one cultivates them. Funny how labeling can fetch the dollars. :D :D  The processor here, McCain used to buy and sell them frozen for $5/lb. I saw them in Safeway stores in BC. Lots of folks this spring had them for $2 or $3 lb road side. We have different times to pick them here, the early ones down river and later ones up the Tobique into June. The local natives here in NB always picked them to, of course before the settlers. ;)

That's a nice creek, just calls for fiddlehead pickers. ;)

Cfarm, you grow garden produce, don't you eat any of the greens from it? :D

Around here Ostrich ferns are about as tall as brachen ferns, so they are pretty big.

One the way out of the woods Friday I had to pick mother some pink and some white lady slippers. No worries, the woods has thousands of them in softwood forest. There's some yellow ones just across the road to, in under a butternut.

[thecfarm]

I sell produce so I don't have to eat it.  :(