Fiddleheads!

[Gormy Cuss]

Something I miss living on the West Coast is this Spring food in Maine:
http://www.pressherald.com/life/foodanddining/fiddlehead-fever_2010-04-28.html

I like them in a simple saute with minced onion or steamed.
Recipes here, for those daring enough to try:
http://www.pressherald.com/life/foodanddining/When-chefs-fiddle-with-fiddleheads-deliciousness-ensues.html

[proudohioan]

1. Is THAT what you do with those things!

I worked in an "upscale" grocery store a few years ago, and when these Fiddleheads came in, people would go crazy buying them!

I had never seen them before; they were the weirdest looking things, but people around here sure seemed to like them. Maybe they were all transplants from Maine?

:)

[Gormy Cuss]

2. They are weird looking -- like fiddleheads.

:)

It's one of those wild foods that people craved back when green produce wasn't available all winter. ANYTHING green sounded good after months of root cellar and canned vegetables.

They do resemble asparagus in taste and texture, but it's one of those foods like ramps that most people only know from a regional exposure. I think rural people in a lot of the Northeast used to harvest fiddleheads. Don't know about other areas of the country.

[proudohioan]

5. I love asparagus! I wonder if that grocery store still carries them?

You have me curious to try 'em now!

Thanks for the tip!

:hi:

[Denninmi]

6. They're used here in the Great Lakes region as well.

Which probably isn't surprising, since the same fern species grow here, and the early settlers of these states (Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois) mostly came from New England and the mid-Atlantic states anyway. So, the tradition was established here as well.

[yellerpup]

3. I love fiddleheads!

The farmer's market usually has them for one week, maybe two in the beginning of the season. They are interesting (blanched) in salads, too.

[Warpy]

4. I had a backyard full of them on Cape Cod

and only liked them sauteed with garlic. I was never that nuts about them, but free food was free food.