Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Fiddle-dee-dee

Ever have these yummy thingies?


Before we moved up here (NH), I hadn't had them either. They are Fiddleheads and they are deeeeelish! They are just found up around Maine/NH during early spring, so we grab them while they are here.

"A Fiddlehead is a fern so young and new that it hasn't yet "unfurled" and opened its leaves. The end is still curled in a tight spiral, ready to unroll as the sun warms it and it gathers strength and size. This spiral shape reminds many people of the end of a violin, hence the name "Fiddlehead."
"
We just sauteed them with some garlic and olive oil, but upon reading more about them tonight, I have since learned that you really need to boil them or else you might get exposed to some un-named food borne illness. It's been a few hours and we're still fine (phew!).

***UPDATE: Hubby ended up having some pretty bad GI issues later that night.... I only ate ~ 6 or so of them, but he had ~ 30... definitely boil them first! ***

Hope you're all enjoying some spring sun! We've got some nasty flies and mozzies here, but we're trying to get out when we can (windy days are fabulous!). We bought Sydney a bike the other day and she's slowly getting it - we'll keep trying!



**Quick reminder! The Emmeline Sew-Along entries need to be in by June 15th. I posted the prize tonight on the Flickr site - it's not too late to enter! **

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Last year when we were in Maine, I lightly boiled them (like threw them in rapidly boiling water, waited a minute and then dumped them into ice water) and then prepared them with a light vinagrette dressing. Yum yum!

Anonymous said...

I found a great fiddlehead soup online -- which includes boiling.
http://bayoffundy.blogspot.com/2008/05/fiddlehead-soup-recipe.html

Jennifer said...

Hey your hair is getting long. And um, fiddleheads eh...sounds like fun with the GI issues!

Linda Valenti DeVincent said...

Now, see - when I made them for you (the first time you had them) I boiled them first. I told ya! Hope your bellies felt better!

Auntie Lin