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Well I finally dusted the cob webs off myself and my fishing gear and got out and got the stink blew off me, Hahaha, first time in a little over a year, and three years previous. I must thank Crowman for this. I don't know how, but some how, he detected that I was in a rut, and I was, big time, and he mentioned that I needed to get out and go fishing. It took a while but I finally heeded his advice and sure glad I did. Can't wait to get out again. If it wasn't for your advise Rick, and I thought about it frequently, I'm not sure I would have. Thanking you very much just doesn't seem like enough. The wind in town here was 40 gusting to 60 out of the west which would have been perfect but when I got to my fishing hole, the Bow River, just 75km SE of town the the wind was brutal and out of the SE right in my face and the water was dirty but still managed to get my Kamlooper out far enough to get this brown. Not a big one but a nice looking one. Not the best picture as I didn't want to spend too much time with him as I intended to release him which I did of course as I do with most all my fish, but it sure made my day and broke the ice for the first fish caught on my new rod and reel. Thank You Rick.

I would never blanch them for 6 minutes Doug, they would be fully cooked at that point. I agree with Crowman, a two minute blanch followed by rinse and ice bath and then dried and frozen. Don't think it would make much difference to be cooked from thawed or still frozen except for the time in the pan. Thing is they never turn out as good once frozen, they almost always tend to start to unravel and get soft so you have to be real careful not to cook them too long. They actually keep real good in the fridge as picked until later into the summer then they start to go black so I try and keep most of them in the fridge. I always use to freeze them in 1 cup portions for my Wild Country Soup but it's real hard to keep them from unravelling so they don't spend much time in the soup like normal from fresh. I also chop and freeze the leeks for making soup in the winter and I tend to use asparagus instead of fiddleheads anymore as you can buy them fresh all year. As for my normal process, after cleaning it's a two minute boil and the water turns reddish brown real quick. Then drain and rinse and boil again for 1 minute and then drain the light brown water again before a 5 minute saute in garlic butter and they're still firm but tender. That's what I tell everyone to do who is new at it, once you see how dark that water gets you'll never want to just steam them again and ingest all that crap. It's no wonder some people say they have tummy issues, they're the ones that just steam them. The one woman I gave some to had only ever tried them once before in a restaurant and didn't care for them. The ones I gave her were picked that day and she followed my instructions and loved them. Same with one of the neighbours I gave some too, they are vegetarians and had never tried them before but were happy to try and add a new foraged product to their list of foods. Lori made it a point to call me back and say they had followed my instructions and the whole family loved them. If any of you get some leeks I highly recommend you make it a point to try that soup, I've posted here in the past but could do it again. I make a lot of soups and this one rates near the top for sure. Cheers