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Fiddlehead Ferns: A Surprise Delicacy

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Fiddlehead Ferns

Photo: Flickr/Howard Walfish

Once you have your wonderful Fiddleheads at home, rinse them two or three times in cold water. Refrigerate if you are not cooking immediately. They will keep about a week. You can saute them, steam them, boil them just like any other vegetable.  They have a somewhat nutty, earthy flavor, like mushrooms, and go well in omelets and frittatas. They are exceptional in stir-fries, mixed with asparagus, and when cooked in a lemony butter sauce they enhance any meat dish.

Fiddlehead Ferns
Photo: Flickr/Alexa Clark

Another method of preparing Fiddlehead Ferns is to pickle them, and many connoisseurs claim this is the best pickled vegetable you will ever eat.

Marissa McClellan has furnished a tasty Pickled Fiddlehead Fern recipe on Serious Eats. To get you started, here is what you will need:

  • 1/2 pound fiddlehead ferns
  • Kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon dill seeds
  • 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
  • 2 allspice berries
  • 1 garlic clove, smashed

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