If you are like me, then you have seen these in the stores for years, wondered what the heck they were, but never bothered or forgot to look up what they were once you got home.The other day my wife and I were walking and I saw new ferns sprouting on the side of the road and I said to her that they look a lot like those fiddlehead thingies that they sell at the grocery store. She, like a lot of the time, had no idea what I was talking about and just humored me. That moment I reached a turning point in my life. No longer was I going to continue through life wallowing in my own fiddlehead ignorance.
Today I looked them up and sure enough they ARE baby ferns. This begs the age old question to be asked yet again, who was the first person to ever eat these and what prompted them to do so?
Next time I am at Hannaford I am going to buy a jar.
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9 comments:
seriously? do you harvest them yourself? or can you find them fresh in a store?
Ahhh to be back home again. My dad just got 11 pounds worth the other weekend. You have to know WHICH to pick, otherwise the wrong kind can make you sick. They sell for like 4 bucks a pound in the stores. You just need to find wet area in the woods and you will find them there sprouting, though its getting past their time so odds are you won't find many now. But 3 weeks ago...
And yes, steamed with a bit of butter... mmmm though my wife hates em...
with a last name like "Gagknee" you've never eaten fiddleheads before? Or is it a New Hampsha thing and not a French Canadian thing? I always associate fiddleheads with my uncle Etienne and you didn't get more French than him. Anyway, you can also eat dandelion greens and a plant that I've only heard called the 'cowslip'. It has little yellow flowers and also grows in wet woodsy/marshy areas near fiddleheads. (more than you cared to know. :) )
You can get them fresh at Hannaford rarely. And I've seen them at Golden Harvest.
Not steamed Bob! You need to sautee them in a little evoo, butter and garlic spritzed with a little lemon juice!
Wow. Never heard of 'em! You totally have to give us a culinary review when you try them.
Three weeks ago, you could have taken all you wanted from my yard. Now I have to go cut down a bunch of ugly ferns.
i have a ton in my yard too. oh well. i would have liked to have tried them fresh.
Shaw's had 'em for sale fresh tonight.
Shaws! oh man. i gotta try it.
Heidi, it might be something that my grandmother has had before, but I doubt it. I've had just about every French Canadian "delicacy" you can think of in my lifetime. Maybe ferns dont grow as far north as where they are from. i've heard of eating dandelion greens. i should harvest them from my yard. i could feed my family for a long time.
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