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​ Annual Re post

During the long winter months, many of us have been anxiously waiting for the warmer temperatures of Spring to arrive. The rebirth of nature as it wakes from the long winter freeze. Taking a spring hike through the woods could very soon hold the potential for even more pleasures.

This is the time of the year if you’re a forager, you look forward to the opportunity to finally get out and harvest some of nature's delicacies. Fiddlehead pickin can be described in many terms, but the one I like to use is an annual ritual.

Foraging for Fiddleheads is a favorite spring activity of mine. Primarily because Fiddleheads, besides being a tasty delicacy that I will be enjoying many times this year, is also the first of this year's foraging opportunities.

Each spring, not long after the snow melts and depending on where you live. The Fiddleheads start emerging and are available for pickin for about two to three weeks. 

The Fiddleheads are the young, coiled fronds of the ostrich fern. Nearly all ferns have Fiddle heads, but the ostrich fern are the edible tasty ones. They are about an inch and a half in diameter and can be identified by the brown papery scale-like covering on the uncoiled fern. They also have a distinct, deep” U”-shaped groove on the inside of the fern stem.

Here in southern New England where I live and depending on the weather, the Fiddleheads will start emerging around the third week of April.  

That's when the clock starts ticking as the ferns first growth of the year is starting to push its way up through the forest floor. We were spared the snow from last week's storm and just got a lot of rain. It looks like I will be starting out in the search mode next week. The opportunity to harvest the Fiddleheads will only last a few weeks before the ferns have all uncurled. It’s also a perfect time to be out pickin because the bugs have not yet come out and become a nuisance in the woods.

You can find the Fiddleheads not far from the banks of rivers, streams, brooks or other flooded areas where the high waters have receded.

To prep the Fiddle heads, remove the “silk” from the fiddlehead. The silk is a thin, brown, papery covering that resembles a peanut casing. The best way I have found to do this is place a couple dozen at a time in a brown paper bag and shake them vigorously. Next step is to rub the remaining brown casing off with your fingers in a bath of cold ice water. If needed, drain the water and then rinse them again in a bowl of cold water, gently agitating them with your fingers and pouring off the water until it is free of particles. Drain well and pat dry.

These springtime delicacies have a taste reminiscent of asparagus. If you cook the Fiddle head like an asparagus, you really can’t go wrong. Their flavor is mild, they are pleasantly crunchy.  They can be cooked in many different ways, from steamed, to boiled, or dipped in beer batter and fried. I like them sauteed with some garlic and lemon juice in olive oil and butter, lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper.

It is recommended that you cook them for at least 10 and up to 15 minutes before you eat them. Fiddle head ferns contain a toxin that causes stomach pain in humans when ingested. The toxin is destroyed by the heat generated during the cooking process.

There are many recipes that can be found on the internet, so if you decide it’s time to go pickin, get a bunch of them because the opportunity available is a very short period. When you have cleaned them with a good wash and dry, they will freeze very well. I also like to pickle some and enjoy them in an antipasto salad later in the year.

Good Diggin