Fiddlehead Season.

It is fiddlehead season again. The dog and I had a successful first trip picking what I would consider a delicacy. Fiddleheads are ranked as being twice as strong in antioxidants as blueberries. They are also a very good source of vitamin a, vitamin c, riboflavin, niacin, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, copper and manganese and contain both omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Quite the super food to say the least. Mine pictured here are not cleaned, you want to clean them well and remove the papery wrapper before cooking, and are stored in a small amount of water. You can keep them fresh in the fridge in this manner for a short time for fresh eating. When cooking fiddle heads it's quite important to boil for 10 minutes or steam for 12 minutes and then completely discard the cooking water. There have been reported salmonella like symptoms connected with eating undercooked fiddleheads. Fully cooked fiddleheads do not present a problem. When picking fiddleheads it is extremely important to know what you are picking before eating. I find the easiest way to identify the ferns is to look for a DEEP U-shaped groove in the stalk of the fern. Anther fern has a U-shaped groove in the stalk, however in comparison to the fiddlehead, or ostrich fern, it is quite shallow. Once you have identified them it is very easy to distinguish them from the many other ferns growing wild. Fiddleheads mainly grow by rivers, however you'll also find them away from the river and through damp areas in the woods. They spread quite aggressively. It's also important to allow some of the ferns to unfurl and continue to grow to allow the plant to come back the following year, never fully harvest one clump of ferns to be a sustainable harvester. Do some research before picking fiddleheads to fully understand the ferns. Make several trips to the same spot to harvest, again never taking all of the ferns, as they come out in stages from about a week ago until around the middle of may. We're quite lucky to have fiddleheads available here. There is nothing quite like foraging for free, nutrient dense foods and you also get lots of exercise tromping through the woods. I take my dog to exercise him and since I live in the middle of bear country, the bears seem to be scared of him.