Last weekend, my aunt took my mom and I fiddlehead picking, which was a first for me. She knew of a great spot in the woods nearby her place where she goes every year to stock up on those springtime delicacies.
For those who never heard of fiddleheads, they are the young curled shoots of a fern before they fully develop into fronds. Their flavour profile is unique and often described as earthy, grassy and somewhat nutty. I find they taste like something between asparagus, spinach and green beens.
Asides from their delicious taste, fiddleheads are packed with nutrients such as vitamin A and C, antioxidants, minerals, fibers and Omega-3 fatty acids.
In Canada, fiddleheads grow in damp and sunny soils along waterways in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and especially New Brunswick. Other provinces have them too, but less predominantly. Depending on your geographic location, they can grow from the end April to the first week of June. Once they start emerging from the ground, there is a two-three weeks window during which they can be harvested.
While every type of fern has a fiddlehead stage, only the ones from the Ostrich ferns are edible.
How to prepare fiddleheads
It’s important to know how to prepare fiddleheads before consuming them because if not cleaned and cooked correctly, they can cause stomach cramps and other food-poisoning symptoms.
First, you need to rid the fiddleheads of their brown shell. To do so, you can put them in a bag and shake it to loosen the larger debris. Then, submerge them into a big bowl (or even a sink) filled with cold water and gently rub them to remove any bits of brown husk and dirt remaining, which will end up floating on the surface. Drain the water and repeat this step one more time, or until the fiddleheads are well cleaned.
Finally, trim the brown ends with a knife and boil or steam the fiddleheads for 8 to 10 minutes without lid (like any other green vegetable, that will prevent them from losing their bright green colour). Discard the dirty cooking water and you’re ready to start your recipe.
If you’re not going to cook the fiddleheads right away, don’t bother trimming the stems now since they will brown again in no time. You can refrigerate them as they are in an airtight container or blanch them 2 minutes if you’re planning on freezing them.
Like any other green vegetable, fiddleheads goes well in soups, stir fries, pizza, pasta and so much more, but my favorite way to eat them is simply as a side dish.
In this recipe, I sauté them just a few minutes with olive oil, garlic, black olives and sun-dried tomatoes, which gives them a Mediterranean twist. I finish up with a fresh squeeze or lemon just before serving and that’s it!
If you’re not a fan of those ingredients, onions and mushrooms can be a great alternative. For something even simpler, just sauté them with olive oil and garlic and season with some salt and pepper.
Fiddleheads are not always easy to find, especially if you don’t live in the East coast. But if you’re lucky enough to get some, I hope this post will be helpful and inspiring!
Mediterranean Sautéed Fiddleheads
Ingredients
- 2 cups fiddleheads
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 10 black olives, pitted and cut in half
- 1/2 lemon
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Clean the fiddleheads throughly (see notes below for step-by-step instructions) and trim their brown ends with a knife.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the fiddleheads for 8-10 minutes without the lid; drain.
- Heat a table spoon of olive oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Stir in the prepared fiddleheads, garlic, black olives, sun-dried tomatoes and salt & pepper and sauté for about 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat, add a fresh squeeze of lemon and serve.
I have had fiddleheads once or twice, but I’ve never been fiddlehead picking. Sounds like fun! I would love to do that in the spring. Your recipe sounds delicious.