Subject: Edible ferns--please help

From: [email-masked] (Bernadette Bosky)
Date: 28 Feb 1995 04:06:43 -0500

I've been doing a lot of reading and a lot of experimenting, 
planting a yard that's almost all in shade.  One question has frustrated 
all my efforts at research:  which kinds of ferns have the best edible 
fiddleheads?  Would the *Edible Garden* book that has been mentioned here 
be of help?  My yard is not very moist, so if there is a choice among 
varieties (with edible fiddleheads), that should be taken into account.
	I'm glad to have found this group--though I better do my posting 
on it now, before I can actually go out there & use up all my time....
	Thanks!

Bernadette Bosky

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 28 Feb 95 14:48:55 -0600

> varieties (with edible fiddleheads), that should be taken into account.

The classic fiddlehead to eat is probably ostrich fern, Matteucia
struthiopteris.  I'm blanking on the responsible chemical, but
there is a carcinogen present in fiddleheads in significant amounts,
so you probably don't want to make a steady diet of them.

I've eaten several different species of ferns, and if I had
to rank  them with some other boiled greens, I'd say
more                                             less 
preferred                                        preferred

spinach             nettle                       fiddleheads
turnip              dandelion
kale                wild lettuce

Kay Klier   [email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 1 Mar 95 09:33:59 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Bernadette Bosky) writes:
>
> 	You boiled the fiddleheads?  I have only eaten them sauteed, in 
> olive oil & maybe a hint of lemon juice, with black pepper--YMMV, but I 
> thought that was wonderful.  (When I try tham again, I think I'll add a 
> hint of fresh garlic, too.)  I don't think I'd like them boiled.

Actually, I've had them boiled, steamed, and sauteed, with various
and sundry condiments.  They just aren't appealing to me.  Neither
are they on my "I'd rather eat my boot liners, thank you" list.
Of course, olive oil and lemon (or garlic and butter) makes just
about anything, (but maybe not the boot linings!) edible.  ;-)

---

From: [email-masked] (sonny hays-eberts)
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 1995 10:48:42 -0700

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Bernadette Bosky) wrote:

> 	Thanks for the kind of fern (thanks also to the person who
> e-mailed me on this).  And double thanks for the health info.  As with my
> sassafras tea, I will indulge myself, but not too much and very
> infrequently. 

fancy meeting you here. i was reading this thread after spending the last
two days working up a trench for my third row of asparagus. yum!

-- 
...there is no warning in the sirens call -- genesis

sonny hays-eberts
[email-masked]

---

From: Susan Sanders <[email-masked]>
Date: 1 Mar 1995 20:18:03 GMT

>thought that was wonderful.  (When I try tham again, I think I'll add a 

That's interesting.  There was something in today's paper (which I forgot
to keep, darn it) that talked about people getting poisoned eating
fiddleheads at restaurants, in New York and another, entirely separate
location.  It talked about the need to boil them in two waters to get rid
of the offending chemical.  I wonder how you're getting away with just
sauteeing them.  Did you fix them yourself?  Could they have been boiled
first to get rid of the chemical, then sauteed?  The article did also
mention that the ferns used were ostrich fern.              -Sue Sanders

---

From: [email-masked] (Bernadette Bosky)
Date: 1 Mar 1995 01:48:31 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>,
 <[email-masked]> wrote:
>to rank  them with some other boiled greens, I'd say <snip>

Bernadette Bosky

---

From: [email-masked] (Bernadette Bosky)
Date: 1 Mar 1995 01:48:31 -0500

Bernadette Bosky

---

From: [email-masked] (CT)
Date: 7 Mar 1995 03:56:53 GMT

>mention that the ferns used were ostrich fern.              -Sue Sanders

I too just read something re: fiddleheads. (Ostrich fern var.). I have also 
harvested and eaten them.  One conjecture (about the "illness") was that
these Ostrich fern fiddleheads are found in stream/slow river areas that 
don't always have wholesome water bathing them. The implication: bacteria, 
waste runoff, that sort of thing. Wash them well, cook them. I suspect they 
might be over harvested. They are good. Don't go killing their subtle taste w/
garlic, olive oil etc. *Anything* is terrific with garlic and olive oil.
The fiddleheads (I think) are best w/ very little "seasoning": salt, some olive oil.
I'd "settle" for fresh asparagus.

ct