A New England delicacy

This week my husband brought home a special treat from work: fiddle heads! This was a food I had never eaten, until this week that is. To be completely honest the idea of consuming a fern sounded weird, to say the least, but I decided to give it a whirl anyways! Now to those who don't know, fiddle heads are the coiled baby plant from the Ostrich Fern which grows natively throughout the Northeast, they are only found during a small window of time (Late April through Early June) in the springtime. Not every baby fern can be consumed, only those of the Ostrich Fern species can be eaten safely. While I am mentioning it, these young fern'lings must be cooked thoroughly and properly before they are completely safe to eat.*

Fiddle heads should be tightly curled and have their brown papery covering removed before cooking. Here is a picture of what a proper fiddle head should look like:

Cook your fiddle heads by boiling or steaming, boil them for 15 minutes in a covered pot. The fiddle heads should be thoroughly cooked to be completely safe to eat. The flavor is similar to asparagus and according to my hubby the best way to eat them is boiled and then dipped into red wine vinegar. We didn't have any red wine vinegar, but we ate ours with apple cider vinegar. I think that they would be tasty in butter with salt and pepper as well! I am very happy that after living in the great Northeast of America for so many years I have finally eaten fiddle heads and they were yummy! If you are able to get your hands on some freshly picked fiddle heads give 'em a try, they are worth it!

- Night Owl Gal