{"id":58,"date":"2023-04-28T22:59:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-29T02:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/?p=58"},"modified":"2023-04-29T01:13:48","modified_gmt":"2023-04-29T05:13:48","slug":"fiddleheads-a-spring-favorite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/2023\/04\/28\/fiddleheads-a-spring-favorite\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiddleheads: A Spring Favorite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vera Longtoe Sheehan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally printed in the Abenaki Newsletter,”The Voice of the Turtle”
in 1997.  Although it has been slightly revised to include current locations to purchase fresh, canned and jarred Fiddleheads.<\/em>\ufeff<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"A
Fresh fiddleheads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Canned
Can of fiddleheads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For hundreds of years, possibly longer, Wabanaki women have spent cool spring mornings harvesting fiddleheads.\u00a0 Today Fiddleheads can still be found growing alongside streams, riverbanks and wooded areas in New York, throughout New England and up to Nova Scotia.\u00a0 For those of you, who are not familiar with Fiddleheads, they are the coiled heads of fern fronds.\u00a0 They are easily gathered and prepared in a variety of ways, from everyday home cooking to being used as a gourmet garnish.\u00a0 However, as with any good thing, there are always precautions to beware of.

My father once told me that Fiddleheads pop up at the same time as the dandelions are budding.\u00a0\u00a0 It usually starts in May and ends in June.\u00a0 They are commonly harvested by snapping off the head and one or two inches of stem.\u00a0 Once the coiled fern leaf opens, it is too late to harvest. Preparation is easy.\u00a0 Remove the chaf (brown papery looking covering), cut off any excess stem, rinse thoroughly to remove any dirt and blanch in boiling water for about 2 minutes.\u00a0

Fiddleheads are crunchy and taste something like a mix between spinach and asparagus.\u00a0 They taste best when served fresh and can be eaten: as a hot, steamed or boiled dish served with butter; as a cold dish, by refrigerating them after blanching; as a garnish on a garden salad or in a bowl of hominy.\u00a0 You can refrigerate them for up to 2 or 3 days.\u00a0 If you wish to freeze your Fiddleheads, blanch them in boiling water and dry them, before placing them in the freezer.

About ten years ago, I was fortunate enough to take a class on edible Native plants with Native Edna-botanist and food historian, E Barrie Kavasch.\u00a0\u00a0 She strongly advised eating Fiddleheads in moderation because certain ones have been known to cause tiaminese poisoning in livestock. She also cautioned against eating them raw.\u00a0 The CDC has even done research into illnesses that were caused by eating Fiddleheads in Europe.

For those of you, who are unable to harvest your own Fiddleheads and would like to try them. They are available fresh at many Hannaford, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s Supermarkets or can be ordered seasonally from Dean & Delucca in New York City.\u00a0 I have provided links to buy Fiddleheads in a can or jar, to the left of the page, under the pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Glass
Jar of fiddleheads<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Fiddleheads & Rice<\/strong>
Bear Fat (substitutes \u2013 butter, oil, beef or pork fat)
1 cup Fiddleheads
1 cup rice
\u00bd cup chopped wild or white onion
\u00bd cup chopped mushrooms
1 chopped clove of garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
Rinse and blanch the Fiddleheads.  Rinse 1 cup wild rice.  Boil rice with 3 cups of
water.  Let rice simmer for 20-25 minutes.  Fluff with fork and set aside.  Saut\u00e9
Fiddleheads, onions, mushrooms, and garlic.  Then toss the wild rice and veggies
together. 
Makes approximately 4-6 servings.

Honey Vinegar Fiddleheads<\/strong>
3 cups Fiddleheads
\u00bd cup birch sap vinegar or cider vinegar
3 tbs. Honey
Rinse and blanch the Fiddleheads.  Mix Fiddleheads with the vinegar and honey. 
Marinade for about an hour, mixing occasionally.  Refrigerate and serve. 
Makes 4 \u00bd cups servings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vera Longtoe Sheehan This article was originally printed in the Abenaki Newsletter,”The Voice of the Turtle”in 1997.  Although it has been slightly revised to include current locations to purchase fresh, canned and jarred Fiddleheads.\ufeff For hundreds of years, possibly longer, Wabanaki women have spent cool spring mornings harvesting fiddleheads.\u00a0 Today […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":257,"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions\/257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elnuabenakitribe.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}