Fiddleheads and TROUT

[luv2drift]

In case anyone is interested the Fiddleheads are out and in full season! There is nothing quit like a meal of Rainbow trout and a side of steamed fiddleheads. All off the land!!!

[moosehead]

Yes they are definately a delicassy. Only trick is you got to know where to look for them.

If you know of any wet swampy wooded areas this would be a good start.

[Daplumma]

Thanx to google I now know what a fiddlehead is....I thought us cajuns would eat anything but you Canucks are just as bad!

Joe

[BLACKFISH88]

it is a certain type of fern isnt it do you have any pictures and some ideas of where to find em. probably lightly shaded areas I remember people picking them at cfb trenton golf course. LOVE EM and some puffball with some butter and garlic. YUM...

[luv2drift]

They are a certain type of fern. But to the best of my knowledge they are the only type right now that is sprouting and you have to pick them from two inches or less to the ground. They have some brown husk like stuff on them you just rinse off. Look around rivers and moist gound areas. Ferns like shade so a thick canopy would be overhead in summer. They like cedar trees too. To find a "patch" of ferns look on the ground for really, really bright green ferns sprouting up, these sprouts will have shouted up( maybe 6 to 12 inches) and are a little too late to eat BUT all around them will be ferns/fiddleheads of various stages that you'll find close to the ground. They taste like a cross between a really nice asparagus and a sweet broccolli.

 

Some fry them in a little butter low low heat and don't burn them

I like them steamed BUT Do NOT overcook them.

[luv2drift]

I guess you could try and Cajun that fiddlehead!

[ch312]

I guess you could try and Cajun that fiddlehead!

 

luckily i know where to go to get a few 5 gallon buckets filled up in no time i like them boiled, steamed, or fried. the main thing to worry about is not overcooking them....

 

[Greencoachdog]

Thanx to google I now know what a fiddlehead is....I thought us cajuns would eat anything but you Canucks are just as bad!

Joe

 

 

You may want to go ahead and google Morels too, they'll be out up there soon too.

[ehg]

Yes, fiddleheads, morels, crappie and trout are some of the

good organic foods to be found in Ontario this time of year.

Couple of morel pics.

Black morel

Yellow morel

[verno]

How do you know which fiddleheads you can eat? I thought I read here last year that some can be carcinogenic? But my neighbour says he just eats whatever he picks?

[Jen]

I was wondering the exact same thing about fiddleheads. I love them and have picked them in the past but always wonder if there are kinds of ferns that you can not eat.

 

Morels are also one of my favorites, along with wild onions and splake it makes spring up north a mouth watering experience. No wonder I can't wait for the snow to melt and everything to start growing.

 

(p.s. if you actually manage to find morels, wash them really good or you will be adding protien to your diet ... they have a nutty cashew flavour and are #1 on my mushroom list!)

[verno]

Here's what I have found so far:

 

“In the spring, the ostrich fern's distinctive ‘fiddleheads,’ the young, coiled fern leaves about an inch in diameter, are mostly green, but have brown scales. Nearly all ferns have fiddleheads, but the ostrich fern's are unlike any other. These fiddleheads have a paper-dry, parchment-like sheath that usually has started to peel. Most other fern fiddlehead sheaths are fuzzy or wooly.”

 

The fact sheet contains this warning: The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has investigated a number of outbreaks of food-borne illness associated with fiddleheads. The implicated ferns were eaten either raw or lightly cooked (sautéed, parboiled or microwaved)…. Although a toxin has not been identified in the fiddleheads of the ostrich fern, the findings of this investigation suggest that you should cook fiddleheads thoroughly before eating (boil them for at least 10 minutes).

 

Here's some sites I found.

fiddleheads

 

pictures

 

more pics

 

Just reading over those sites I found a link to harvesting leeks. As a kid my buddy and I used to go with his dad every spring. I never really knew what we were looking for I just picked what I was told. His dad used to pickle them. Anyone else pick leeks?