Fiddlehead Foraging: How To Sustainably Harvest, ID and Prepare These Gourmet Gems of Mid-Spring
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It's fiddlehead season! And I am excited to share with you all about this mid-spring, gourmet treat.
In this lesson I focus on the fiddleheads from the Ostrich Fern, scientifically called Matteuccia struthiopteris. They offer a mild and pleasing flavor, to gussy up any spring dish.
The part we eat is the fiddlehead, the crozier- the tightly coiled part of the fern that looks like a fiddle’s (the instrument’s) head, along with its tender stem. Gather when up to 6-7 inches tall, and still has a tightly coiled tip. Eat both the stipe (stalk, aka petiole) and fiddlehead.
However, this gourmet, North American native perennial needs to be gathered sustainably. The first rule: eat only from mature plants that have at least 5 fronds emerging. Then gather no more than ⅓ of the fronds, so harvest only 1 frond from a plant with 5 emerging fronds; 2 from a fern with 6, and so on, (please watch video for more clarity).
Look for Ostrich Ferns along river banks, and shady moist woodlands. They grow in rich moist soil, in shady to part shady conditions. As a Native of North America they can be found throughout the USA and Canada in hardiness zones 2-7. plants.usda.gov/home/plantPro...
If none grows in your area, plant some of these shade-loving, regal beauties. They are easy to grow, yet slow to take off, but once established and happy, they will spread = tasty eating.
This fern is dimorphic (pretty cool)! It grows two types of ferns, fertile and sterile. We eat the sterile ones that are green and soft, versus the fertile fronds that are stiff and brown.
Ostrich Fern ID+
The leafy sterile (edible) frond grows 2-6 feet tall. When fully grown it is largest above the middle and tapers at both ends.
The fertile frond is small, brown, and stiff and may grow up to a foot tall. It releases spores during winter and spring.
Both fertile and infertile fronds’ stipes (stalk) below the blades (expanded leafy part of the fern), and the rachis’ (the central stalk within the blade) have a groove-a u-shaped indent down its middle.
The fern is not wooly or hairy and the sterile (edible) fronds, when they emerge, have a brown coppery papery sheath covering them.
Wishing you fiddlehead fun!
#Fiddleheads #Matteuccia struthiopteris #OstrichFern #WildFood #Foraging #WildEdible #ForagingAndFeasting #DinaFalconi #InTheWildKitchen #OnlineForagingCourse #WildFoodHealthBoosters #PlantIdentification #Botanizing #SpringForaging #Forage
Пікірлер: 39
YOU ARE AMAZING!
@DinaFalconi
Жыл бұрын
Sweet, thank you.
I've been growing and selling these for a few years. I've found that to transplant the corm the fall after a good freeze is the best time. They almost pull right out of the dirt. The wild patches I've been visiting for years seem to enjoy being thinned out by having corms harvested leaving individual corms maximum room to expand. Also the center fronds where the spores release can produce millions of new ferns. Pat them on top of potting soil which has been cased with peat moss. There is also a more sterile technique for harvesting spores similar to mushroom culture. But just patting them on peat moss seems to germinate them. In my yard I plant them on the north side of the house where water comes off the roof. I also top dress with wood chips, steer compost and worm castings. Its rare that someone doesn't comment on my fern patch. I've been told its one of the most impressive in Alaska. I may be biased but I've yet to see any sellers with better fern pictures than me. Just sayen.
@DinaFalconi
2 жыл бұрын
Hello J Man, love your comment! Thank you for sharing and would love to see your ostrich fern patch!
@alaskansummertime
2 жыл бұрын
@@DinaFalconi Should be in your inbox.
@DinaFalconi
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks! The fern look amazing.
Great information!
@DinaFalconi
3 ай бұрын
Hello Barbara, Good to see you at skate tonight! And thanks for your comment! Fiddleheads shall be coming soooon....
Thank you for describing sustainable foraging. Awesome information. Gratitude 🙏
@DinaFalconi
2 жыл бұрын
Hello Simone, most welcome!
Thank you
@DinaFalconi
2 ай бұрын
Welcome!
Great video ❤
@DinaFalconi
Жыл бұрын
Thanks, @MsDulce619, for your comment!
Awesome! Your explanation is so easy. I love your videos! Thank you!
@DinaFalconi
Жыл бұрын
So glad to hear. Thank you! Enjoy the channel!
Thank you for the great ID! We had planted some ferns a few years back that were gifted to us. With your description and visual, we correctly ID'd them and had a few sauteed in butter last night for supper. Thank you you are a great teacher!
@DinaFalconi
2 жыл бұрын
Hello Karen, thanks for your comment! Enjoy!
Beautiful video and explanation. Thank you 🙏
@DinaFalconi
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you, Zeandch, for your comment! Enjoy the channel!
Hi Dina, just curious if you're ever planning a follow up/sequel to your foraging & feasting field guide. The only problem I have with this book is that it leaves me craving info on even more plants! It's my all time favorite foraging guide. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us ❤
@DinaFalconi
2 жыл бұрын
Hello Tom, thanks for your comment. Ha, I appreciate your positive feedback on my book Foraging & Feasting! It is something I think about.... let's see what the future holds.
MY EXPERIMENT: I'm having everyone on my street GROW ONE PLANT FOR FOOD so this summer, we'll have our first Street Party to exchange all our harvests! We'll go home, create a yummy recipe, then BRING The EATING PERFECT HEALTH to the Victory Garden Party ON Pardee (Our street is actually called Pardee St.). A self sustaining 'Street of Food' to Meet, Greet and Eat with My Neighbors!! A Pilot Project THE WEALTH OF PRICELESS Human Education for The MOST affordable MENTAL, PHYSICAL, SPIRITUAL, and Humanitarian way to Solve THE PROBLEM! (On my street anyway). If Your Soul Needs Filling, then ground You WILL BE Tilling! My two Slogans: Oregon! The Biggest Neighborhood in America! and Grow It and Know It! WE WILL BE WATCHING YOUR CHANNEL!!! ❤
@DinaFalconi
Жыл бұрын
Hello Christine, I love this experiment!!! Seems so helpful in so many ways! Keep us posted. Dina
Great video, and love your fashion sense too. Where are you?
@DinaFalconi
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for appreciating both the video and the fashion! I'm in the Hudson Valley of NY.
She low key...Knows stuff you don't know lol... I can seeeeee lol 😆
@DinaFalconi
10 ай бұрын
Thanks
Thank you for this information. Do you know if they are high in oxalates? If they are low in oxalates I have a feast to enjoy in the forest behind my house. A few years ago I tasted on raw and my taste buds were not very happy with the flavor.
@DinaFalconi
2 жыл бұрын
Hello JoJo, not sure of their oxalate content, but would like to know as well. If you learn, please share here. And luck you, to have this feast behind your house! But cook them first, either blanch and then cook, or boil. Enjoy
I had know idea you could eat those! Wash it down with some PBR! Just subscribed!
@DinaFalconi
Жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@freeradiorulo4894
Жыл бұрын
Gonna try these ferns with some ranch!
My childhood forest used to have thousands of ferns and was extremely lush and beautiful until foreign immigrants started harvesting the heads and probably the entire fern and now they are completely gone, not a single one left. :/ extremely sad. Always forage sustainably and inform those who don't.
@DinaFalconi
6 ай бұрын
Thanks, yes, as you say always forage sustainably!
god information can get seeds?
@DinaFalconi
Жыл бұрын
Thanks, Tamang, for your question. Not sure about seeds, but you can get baby shoots from an established mother plants.
nomnom
@DinaFalconi
2 жыл бұрын
Yup!