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Fern Fiddleheads: Spring Vegetables of the Northeast
Plants & Gardens News Volume 15, Number 1 | Spring 2000
by Niall Dunne
In the springtime, the residents of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and northeastern Maine are not nearly as distracted as the rest of us by nature's fanfare of seasonal bloomers. At the same time that they're admiring their daffodils, they're also keeping a close eye on their ferns.
Oh sure, these folks are well aware that ferns add a marvelous texture to their landscapes and gardens. But that's not quite the reason for their vigilance. You see, they've gotten a taste of the feral fiddlehead-and are hungering for more.
Fiddleheads are the tightly coiled young fronds, or croziers, of ferns. They are shaped like the ornamental spiral on the tuning end of a fiddle, hence the common name. The fiddleheads of the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopterus) are safe to eat, nutritious, and evidently very appetizing.
Anyone for "Fiddlehead Souffle" or "Roast Goose with Fiddlehead Stuffing"? J. Melvin Nash's Cooking North America's Finest Gourmet Fiddleheads has the whole scoop on fiddlehead culture and cuisine. (For a copy, send $14.95 to Fiddlehead Canada Ltd., RR# 1, Oromocto, New Brunswick, Canada E2V 2G2.)
Nash explains that the Maliseet Indians, native to what is now New Brunswick, beat everybody to the plate. Long before European colonists arrived and cried "fiddlehead!" the Maliseet were enjoying mososiul as a savory spring vegetable. They even used it symbolically to mark their canoes, clothing, and artifacts.
The ostrich fern grows worldwide in the north temperate zone, favoring lightly shaded woodlands and moist, alluvial soils. In North America, ostrich fern fiddleheads emerge around mid-May and for a period of three weeks are ripe for the picking. They are large, hairless, and distinguished from the fiddleheads of other fern species by their loose brown papery "chaff."
Currently, most fiddleheads are harvested from the wild. Epicures either forage for their own or purchase them at local markets. However, in recent years, the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture has explored and promoted the commercial potential of ostrich fern as a cultivated crop.
Vegetable specialist Andrew W. Currie told me that the demand for this delicacy is rising at specialty stores throughout Canada and in the States, and may some day form the basis for large-scale farming ventures. In the meantime, the ostrich fern is readily adaptable to the home garden.
Detailed instructions for harvesting fiddleheads from the wild can be found in Nash's book. Instructions for domestic production have been published on the Internet by an agricultural committee serving Canada's Atlantic provinces.
Here is a summary of the basics:
- Ostrich ferns are widely available at local and mail-order nurseries.
- The ostrich fern performs best in moist, neutral, humus-rich soil. It also prefers partial shade and protection from prevailing summer winds.
- Don't harvest fiddleheads from original crowns (rhizome tips) until plant's third season of growth.
- The number of new crowns will double each year due to rhizome growth. By fourth year, harvest from any crowns one year or older.
- Before cutting fiddleheads, remove as much chaff as possible by hand. Use pruning shears to cut.
- Immediately clean fiddleheads with cold water and drain.
- Seal in an airtight container. Fiddleheads will keep fresh in the refrigerator for a few days. Otherwise, freeze straight away, and use within six months.
So what do fiddleheads taste like? Like a cross between spinach and asparagus, so I'm told. Hmmm...could somebody pass the fern, please!
Niall Dunne is associate editior of Plants & Gardens News.