Bishops and violinists

WHAT???? Ok, ok, calm down. I try to come up with puns in the titles, and I'm not very good at it, just don't have that mindset. Today, I'm writing about another one of the heralds of spring: fiddlehead ferns.

Fiddleheads are the uncurled fronds of various ferns. Here on the East coast, they are almost inevitably the ostrich fern. They grow wild. Don't ever try to get a forager to tell you where s/he finds them. When they are coiled, nice and tight, looking a little like a bishop's crook (which is why they are sometimes called "croziers"), or like the end of a violin ("fiddlehead"), they are edible. Once they open up, they are toxic. So this is something that you have to eat young. They are only available for a short time, in the spring.

High quality grocery stores have them, but what you'll find in a grocery store is usually fiddleheads that have not been taken very good care of. They will almost always be dry, ugly, sad looking things, at a very high price. Go to a farmers' market, find some that look fresh and crisp and buy those.

What do they taste like? Well, they taste like fiddleheads. I agree with people who say that comparing them to asparagus is a stretch. To me, they are sort of a cross between spinach, very lightly cooked green beans, and seaweed. I love them. Guy loves them even more.

When you get them home, you have to cook them. You can't serve them raw. Now, I'm told you can't serve them raw because they are high in something called shikimic acid. Annalena was a biochemist in her past life, and has no idea what shikimic acid is. She looked it up. Oh, it looks like one of the molecules that resemble LSD and other hallucinogens, and she learned that it is a precursor to various alkaloid drugs. Why this means we can't eat them raw, I dunno. I DO know that they taste much better when they are cooked.

When you get them, take a quick look at them. You may have little brown bits that you could cut off, but you don't have to. It's mostly cosmetic. But what you DO need to do is wash them. Remember, these are wild plants. In addition to that dirt kind of stuff from wild stuff, fiddleheads sometimes have what I call a "caul" over them, like a very fine thin veil, that really interferes with enjoying them. So I put them in a big colander and give them a nice cold bath, while I'm getting my typical big pot of salted water going. Dump the fiddleheads in and start tasting them after, say, three minutes. I want you to taste as you go along because these can be very crunchy. I like them that way, others don't. If you overcook them though, you will get mushy disgusting stuff, sort of like canned spinach (In New England, canned fiddleheads are popular. I can't understand that).

One of the things that will shock you, or at least surprise you, when you cook these, is that they turn the water black. This is also true of nettles and other wild plants. I don't think it's that shikimic acid, and it's not dirt. I'm not sure what it is, but it's harmless. It does mean that you're going to want to rinse these again when they're tender enough for your palate.

So you've cooked these things for no more than eight minutes or so. What do you do now? I like them with lemon juice only. Other people will add a cube of butter, which is good, as is a drop of olive oil. Try to use a milder one. They are also lovely in a quick saute with some garlic (or maybe ramps?????), and olive oil. And I like them cold, tossed into a salad, or just out of hand for good taste.

This is one of the things that you really should enjoy while you can. It will expand your horizons, and you will enjoy it. I guarantee it. Get to know a new vegetable when you can.