What kind of fiddleheads are edible

Guess what though? Chop up excess stem and add it to a veggie saute. This is the most common problem with cooking these I see. Just like any other vegetable, they need to be cooked with care. Sauteed for too long their heavy and oily. You can sure try them raw, but start in small amounts. The problem, according to a number of foraging authorities, Sam Thayer being one, is that many people, even experienced foragers, identify the wrong type of fiddlehead, and eat them.

After they get sick, they spread the word that fiddleheads are poisonous, and then they tell their friends, and their friends tell their friends. You get the idea. Bracken Fern or Pteridium aquilinum see picture above is another species of edible fern that grows in my area, and around the country.

Ethnobotanical evidence, like with a lot of wild foods, is a useful tool. If I could find more bracken ferns, I would probably be eating them. Fern Fiddles—Sam Thayer. Studies show that the Japanese have a very high rate of gastric cancer. Whether there is any connection to the bracken fern or not, this writer is not aware of this.

It is up to the you, the reader, to research this fern extensively. This writer suggests focusing only on the ostrich fern. Carefully brush off and remove the papery brown scales. When picking fiddleheads, make sure to harvest them into clean containers.

Use potable water when cleaning the fiddleheads and never use water from streams or rivers. Refrigerate your harvest as soon as possible to maintain freshness. They will remain fresh for up to ten days. Due to the short season, some people like to preserve fiddleheads for later use. Freezing is the most common and easiest way to preserve fiddleheads. To freeze fiddleheads, blanching is required.

Be sure to read How to Preserve Fiddleheads to ensure it is done safely. Lifestyles Front - - - - -. Trib Extra. Go To Trib Extra. Learn how to ID, harvest edible fiddleheads this spring. Jessica Walliser Sunday, Dec. Sunday, Dec. Jessica Walliser for the Tribune-Review. Fiddlehead ferns come from the ostrich fern and are a spring delicacy you can grow in your garden. Email Newsletters. Dig deeper: Extend growing season with these fall gardening tips. Greensburg, Ligonier programs emphasize importance of monarch butterflies.

The Friendly Stem in North Huntingdon joins area's cut-your-own flower farms. Part of the joy is finding them yourself anyway. I would recommend an experienced guide the first time to be on the safe side. Some fiddleheads look like the Ostrich fern varieties and are not only not edible but can be toxic. I did a few wild edible walks with some experienced herbalists a few years ago and they were very helpful.

There are also some good guidebooks that will help you identify fiddleheads and other wild edibles. Once you see them for the first time, fiddleheads become very easy to recognize. They are bright green and can easily be seen amidst the dark soil, twigs, and leaves from which they emerge. They grow in clumps of about about six.

These are probably a little too early to pick. I think they look like tiny green sleeping dragons. But once they peek through, they start growing fast! They will remain tightly coiled until they reach a height of about four to six inches. When you come across a good patch there will be hundreds if not thousands of them growing together and some will grow quicker than others.

All the pics in this blog were take from the same patch on the same day.