The brown numbered triangles and the arrows will help you find your way. Please stay on the trail so as not to disturb the wildlife. Please keep your dogs on a leash. Poison ivy grows close to the trail in many places. The Fiddlehead Trail got its name from the tightly-curled leaves of young ferns in spring-time. But a word of caution. Many know this old axiom: all Champagnes are sparkling wines, but not all sparkling wines are Champagne.
Well, the same holds true for fiddleheads. The West has edible species, too, including lady fern, licorice fern and sword fern. I was thrilled to see a big display of fiddleheads at my local supermarket a few springs ago. Hanging above them was a rather ominous sign warning shoppers that fiddleheads must not be eaten raw.
If purchased as opposed to foraged , they may be wrapped in plastic. Unwrap them as soon as possible so they can breathe, and do your best to remove the brown husk attached to them.
To store them for more than a few hours, place them in a bowl of cold water in the fridge. To cook, rinse them in cold water, then trim and cook them in boiling salted water for 15 minutes before transferring them right into a bowl of icy water to shock in the colour and stop the cooking process.
Once they are cold — test this by squeezing one between two fingers — drain and set them aside. Fiddleheads taste grassy and, not surprisingly, green, so they can be used almost interchangeably with asparagus, kale, spinach or nettles.
They usually grow beneath leaf litter in forests, along rivers and generally in rich mud covered ground. You get this satisfaction when you serve it to your family, friends or just simply enjoy it yourself — you feel connected to the earth.
They are also high in fibre. But keep in mind that while all ferns produce fiddleheads, not all are edible. Like mushroom picking, you need to know what to look for — or find an experienced guide. If that sounds tricky, also consider that patches of fiddleheads can be hard to find, and are a closely guarded secret among fans.
So, my go-to harvesting spot has always been the grocery store. Which means now is the time to drop by our produce department and grab some fiddleheads — cut, packaged and ready to go. Now our fiddleheads come from Ontario and Quebec, and later from New Brunswick, which has a different climate. Carmen explained that fiddleheads are not cultivated — they are a wild-grown product. Like wild blueberries, which are also hand-picked. And the window of opportunity is short, as once the hot weather arrives, they become ferns.
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