Eating Nature

On our camping trip we were hopeful to find some native morel mushrooms. No luck, too cold. DARN!!! But we did try another delicacy offered by nature. We ate Fiddlehead Ferns!!! Imagine? This was actually inspired by a magazine recipe we had just seen in The Best of Cooking Fresh, spring 2008, magazine. Here is what we read:

"Fiddlehead fern fronds emerge from the soil coiled into tight pinwheels and are edible only before they begin to unfurl into their mature form. They have a greassy-earthy flavor that's tasty in a mushroom ragout or a mixed vegetable saute. Store fiddleheads in the refrigerator in a zip-top plastic bag line with moist paper towles for three to five days. To clean them, rub off the brown chaff from the outside (some stores may do this for you - we've never seen them in a store) and wash them thoroughly in cold water. Before cooking, trim the ends and then tame their slight bitterness by blanching briefly in salted boiling water before sauteing or grilling them."

Here's what we did: We followed the directions above, including the blanching. Then we sauted them in butter and garlic. Made them a little crispy and browned on the outside and served them over our meat. Interesting. Not really much flavor, other than what you season them with. But we can now say we tried them, and actually liked them. Naturally, they are weather dependent, and probably not found everywhere. But just like morels, the short time makes them even more delictable :)