The fiddlehead is a wild fern which grows in cool, shady forest glades near rivers. You can’t cultivate the fiddlehead which means that it is only available for a few weeks each spring, as it emerges after the spring floods. I think it only grows in North America, particularly the east where I grew up. And it’s one of the few foods which European settlers learned to eat from the local Indian tribes.
Any of you from outside Canada may not be familiar with this rather strange vegatable. It’s officially known as the “ostrich fern”. It tastes like mild asparagus with a “wild” earthy undertone. Similar I suppose to the gamey taste you get from wild animals as opposed to the cleaner taste of cultivated vegetables.
Wikipedia says – For the Maliseet, a native tribe from the area where the ostrich fern grows, fiddleheads were considered to be medicinal as well as a foodstuff and were gathered in quantity during the relatively brief season before they unfurl.
Have always loved ‘em and had the chance while in Canada this week to catch the end of the fiddlehead season. Cooked up a huge plate, was a funny homecoming ritual that I did not expect.
