Fiddlehead meanders

As I write, I can watch two incredibly fat robins skitter and hop over the front lawn in the slanting white light of a post-storm morning. The air outside is still blustery and cold, but with a nice, washed crispness to it. If it weren’t for the robins and the trees budding out, it could be early October. It is late April, and above the robins, the weeping willows have begun to push out little leaves. The hills have a soft mist of green over everything. 

Yesterday, on a walk in search of fiddleheads, I came across a tall Amalanchier (service berry) tree that had fallen over sometime in the past year or two. It still had roots in the hillside, and all along the now-skyward side of the trunk, the thin branches were reaching straight up, and covered in tender, small reddish-green leaves. Some of the branches bore a few flowers. I’d never been able to reach up to an Amalanchier flower and pull it to my nose before. The flowers are similar to cherry flowers in shape and delicacy, but the smell is entirely different. They smelled softly sweet and creamy—very much like when you’re making sugar cookies and the first step is to cream the butter and sugar together.

 Picking fiddleheads is a spring tradition, and a calm joy. It is also a reverent ritual, one of respect and gratitude. I prefer to pick on cool days, when my senses feel as sharp as the air. Yesterday, it was spitting snow, perfect for fiddlehead picking. This year I feel quite a bit of gratitude toward the existence and availability of the fiddleheads. This past winter we rarely had a vegetable or fruit beyond peas, kale, and peaches frozen last year and a host of different pickles I made. By now, we’re very much ready for something else.

I don’t remember which one of my parents first took me looking for fiddleheads, but I do know we always paid attention. Don’t harvest too many per crown. Careful where you put your feet. Keep your eye peeled. Off bigger crowns of 6 or more fiddleheads, I’ll take two, no more than three if it is a very big crown. Off most crowns I’ll only take one. And if a crown is small, and only has one or two fiddleheads coming along, I won’t take any.  Yesterday I was harvesting amongst jewelweed and stinging nettles. The jewelweed is fine, it’s related to impatiens, harmless and tiny right now, harmless and tall and sort of pretty with its slightly silvery-green foliage and its little orange flowers. But I was very aware of the whereabouts of the nettles. And I’m always careful to walk through the patch of ferns carefully, placing my feet deliberately, always watching to make sure I don’t stomp on a crown and crush something. 

One thing I will add, for anyone reading this, is that there IS a correct, safe way to eat fiddleheads. They are very high in tannins, and can cause gastric issues if not properly cooked. According to a U Maine resource, they need to be boiled for 15 minutes, then if you wish you can sauté them or whatever. Here is how my family prepares them:

Rinse fiddleheads vigorously to remove “paper”.

Place in pot, cover completely with cold water.

Cover and bring to a boil.

Boil for about ten minutes.

Pour off water (which should now be dark brown).

Rinse with cold water.

Cover fiddleheads with cold water again.

Cover and bring to a boil again.

Boil for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve immediately, before they turn to mush.

If you are not going to serve them immediately, cool them off with more cold water.

You can make a cold salad with them, sauté them in butter and garlic (or another, more difficult to find spring treat, ramps, a.k.a. wild leeks), put them in any recipe where you might use asparagus or spinach (stir-fry, quiche, pasta salad, pasta primavera, macaroni and cheese, omelets, chicken or veal piccata, etc.), or, more commonly, serve them straight with butter and salt and pepper. It’s also common to put a dash of cider vinegar over them. Though, after a winter of pickles, I might forego that this year!

If you do not have access or time to pick fiddleheads yourself, and are buying them in a local grocery store or at a farmers market, please be informed about the source. Since they have become a fad localvore item in restaurants, there has been a major increase in harvesting on a much more commercial scale. This is not good for the plants. Please make sure that whoever is providing you with fiddleheads has harvested them respectfully.