...or should I say fiddleheads in my belly? That's where they'd all end up even if I had 20 lbs of them. Such a treat since they're only in season for a few short weeks every spring. I actually had been wondering why I hadn't seen any around when my father who lives in Maine informed me that the season was running about 3 weeks behind due to late snow in northern Maine. You see fiddleheads can't be cultivated, although I'm sure some farmers have tried. They come to the consumer via foragers, much like certain mushrooms do. They generally grow on steep riverbanks (or at least that's where I used to pick them) in late April and early May. They are the young coiled version of a Ostrich Fern, and have a sort of earthy mushroomy asparagus taste to them. Their preparation is simple -- soak in some water to remove some of the scales, then blanch for 2 minutes and dump out the water thereby removing more of the scales. Bring some fresh water up to a boil and then add the fids for 13-15 minutes more. Serve warm tossed in some butter and salt. That's it!
We served ours up with some roasted sweet potatoes and pork tips...super yummy, and I already can't wait until next year!
1 comment:
Whenever I see a plate of fiddleheads, I get the song The Devil Goes Down to Georgia stuck in my head. :-)
This may be the year I try these curly little suckers, if I can find them.
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