Having taken up violin lessons again this spring, it seems only fitting that I should give fiddlehead ferns a try. Here are some photos from dinner this weekend (and from Phoebe’s and my fiddles).
Raw fiddleheads.
Boiled fiddleheads. (Apparently one needs to boil them for 15 minutes, or steam them for 10 minutes, prior to eating. I’m not sure whether this is for health and safety, or for palatability. I just went along with it.)
Sauteed fiddleheads, post-boiling. (Verdict: they were pretty good. I’m not sure I was bonkers for them, but they were indeed tasty.)
These fiddleheads were not eaten for dinner.
I hadn’t really spent much time admiring the shape of my violin before.
The shape of the scroll is quite expressive. And indeed very much like the expressiveness of emerging fern fronds. (See Sue’s very expressive fronds, which she neither ate nor played, to the best of my knowledge.)
collecting tokens 
I had never heard of these before living in Boston. One spring I did try them, but I found them totally disgusting. However, maybe I didn’t prepare them well?
Your photos, however, are quite beautiful. I like the close-ups of the violin.
I hadn’t heard of them either until maybe 2 or 3 years ago. Last year I bought some, but didn’t get around to making them. (Well, I made them into compost.)
I’m glad you enjoyed the photos, in spite of your fiddlehead aversion!
Oh my – it’s been years since I’ve had fiddlehead greens. Love them.
Nice pics too!
Do they have fiddleheads in Spain? Or was it back in North America that you had them?
Back in Canada. Every spring.
the wooden fiddle head is gorgeous. those green ones do not look tasty to me at all. ;)
The green ones do look rather alien, don’t they? But I’m always willing to try a new vegetable. (Now that I’ve said that, I’m fully expecting to be presented with some vegetable that would freak me out…)
Pretty.
(I’ve never heard of boiling the fiddleheads first…and I’m not dead yet.)
I got the instructions to boil or steam them from the sign at WholeFoods that was with the fiddleheads. I didn’t get around to investigating other methods.
So, how do you do the fiddleheads, Magpie? How long do you cook them?
I’ve never heard of fiddlehead ferns, but I’m an instant fan. Where do you buy them?
They’d be a perfect addition to your header doodles, by the way.
I got mine at Wholefoods. They seem like something that one might find at a farmers market, but the markets around here don’t start till next month. Which is probably too late for fiddleheads.
Funny that you mention the doodles! I do love to doodle spirals. Maybe I should doodle some fiddleheads.
I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t eat that…but I find the violin fiddleheads to be quite beautiful!
Yes, the violins are pretty, aren’t they? So much of the violin shape is functional, but I wonder if the scrolls on the heads are purely decorative.
And if we ever get togehter for dinner some day, I promise I won’t make you eat ferns. (You’re not a big vegetable fan in general, though, right?)
i’ve always wanted to try fiddleheads! i’ve imagined them to be sort of like asparagus, were they good?
They were pretty good. I’m not sure what to liken them to. They tasted more like greens, like maybe chard or spinach, than asparagus. I think there was a slight bitterness to them, but now I barely remember! (You’d think it was years ago, not a couple of weeks.)