Scary fiddlehead ferns?

Nancy Young said:

I went over to Whole Foods to pick up some granola.
Swung through the produce section thinking, maybe they
have fiddlehead ferns, I wanted to give them a shot.

Of course they do, it's that time of the year. And, above
them? A WARNING. That's how I like my food, with
warnings, I don't know about you. Anyway, seems I'm
to wash them a number of times before boiling them for
15 minutes! Say what? Or I could steam them for 11-13
minutes.

So, wash and cook the hell out of them, is that how youns
make fiddlehead ferns?

No.

Cut off the stems where they start to curl away from the heads, then
throw the heads in a large bowl of cold water and rub them to remove the
flaky brown leaf ends. Drain, then boil or steam like asparagus, i.e.
quickly (2-3 minutes), then drain and douse with butter and S&P (or
hollandaise sauce or some mild cheese sauce) and scarf 'em right down! :-)

--
Silvar Beitel, known to small children and USENET as Silver Beetle.
To respond by email: change "minus" to "plus" in address

Nancy Young said:

Of course they do, it's that time of the year. And, above
them? A WARNING. That's how I like my food, with
warnings, I don't know about you. Anyway, seems I'm
to wash them a number of times before boiling them for
15 minutes! Say what? Or I could steam them for 11-13
minutes.

So, wash and cook the hell out of them, is that how youns
make fiddlehead ferns?

Ny wife cleans of the beards and soaks them in salt water for
about 15 minutes and then boils them about 15 minutes. They
are pretty good and have a flavour similar to asparagus.

Nancy Young said:

I went over to Whole Foods to pick up some granola.
Swung through the produce section thinking, maybe they
have fiddlehead ferns, I wanted to give them a shot.

Of course they do, it's that time of the year. And, above
them? A WARNING. That's how I like my food, with
warnings, I don't know about you. Anyway, seems I'm
to wash them a number of times before boiling them for
15 minutes! Say what? Or I could steam them for 11-13
minutes.

So, wash and cook the hell out of them, is that how youns
make fiddlehead ferns?

nancy

You're talking about something that comes from Maine and areas like that 🙂
If they are fresh fiddleheads, yes, they need to be washed and also picked
over, like greens would be down here in the south. You don't just pick
something like that and have them ready to eat. But heck, what do I know?
Maybe there are fiddlehead farms. Hard to imagine given the native growing
conditions of the ostrich fern, but what do I know? Kendall had washed them
for me but I had to pick over them and wash them again. Simply steamed and
with some lemon juice and butter with salt and pepper, I called them
wonderful! I wish I could find frozen fiddleheads down here.

Jill

"Silver Beetle" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Of course they do, it's that time of the year. And, above
them? A WARNING. That's how I like my food, with
warnings, I don't know about you.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

So, wash and cook the hell out of them, is that how youns
make fiddlehead ferns?

No.

Cut off the stems where they start to curl away from the heads, then throw
the heads in a large bowl of cold water and rub them to remove the flaky
brown leaf ends. Drain, then boil or steam like asparagus, i.e. quickly
(2-3 minutes), then drain and douse with butter and S&P (or hollandaise
sauce or some mild cheese sauce) and scarf 'em right down! :-)

Thanks! They made it out to be unduly dangerous.

nancy

Nancy Young said:

Thanks! They made it out to be unduly dangerous.

nancy

How do you know that? They can make people sick
unless thoroughly cooked:

http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/ethnobotany/perils/jim.htm

Fiddleheads gathered from the wild may be confused
with bracken fern, which contains carcinogens.:

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/bracken.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10415432&dopt=Abstract

"Mark Thorson" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young said:

Thanks! They made it out to be unduly dangerous.

Quoted message said:

How do you know that? They can make people sick
unless thoroughly cooked:

http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/ethnobotany/perils/jim.htm

Anyone want some unused fiddlehead ferns? Cheap!

nancy

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young said:

I went over to Whole Foods to pick up some granola.
Swung through the produce section thinking, maybe they
have fiddlehead ferns, I wanted to give them a shot.

Of course they do, it's that time of the year. And, above
them? A WARNING. That's how I like my food, with
warnings, I don't know about you. Anyway, seems I'm
to wash them a number of times before boiling them for
15 minutes! Say what? Or I could steam them for 11-13
minutes.

So, wash and cook the hell out of them, is that how youns
make fiddlehead ferns?

nancy

You're talking about something that comes from Maine and areas like that
🙂
If they are fresh fiddleheads, yes, they need to be washed and also picked
over, like greens would be down here in the south. You don't just pick
something like that and have them ready to eat. But heck, what do I know?
Maybe there are fiddlehead farms. Hard to imagine given the native
growing
conditions of the ostrich fern, but what do I know? Kendall had washed
them
for me but I had to pick over them and wash them again. Simply steamed
and
with some lemon juice and butter with salt and pepper, I called them
wonderful! I wish I could find frozen fiddleheads down here.

Jill

Ditto...........vinegar is good on them too. Fresh is fine, but they're ok
frozen.

E.

"Nancy Young" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I went over to Whole Foods to pick up some granola.
Swung through the produce section thinking, maybe they
have fiddlehead ferns, I wanted to give them a shot.

Of course they do, it's that time of the year. And, above
them? A WARNING. That's how I like my food, with
warnings, I don't know about you. Anyway, seems I'm
to wash them a number of times before boiling them for
15 minutes! Say what? Or I could steam them for 11-13
minutes.

So, wash and cook the hell out of them, is that how youns
make fiddlehead ferns?

nancy

A few years back, I read an article somewhere that described how a certain
kind of fern caused cancer in laboratory animals. Sounds like a real yawn,
since everything causes cancer, but the article said the time between
ingestion and tumor was like a week. I wish I remembered which fern....

JoeSpareBedroom said:

Quoted message said:

A few years back, I read an article somewhere that described how a certain
kind of fern caused cancer in laboratory animals. Sounds like a real yawn,
since everything causes cancer, but the article said the time between
ingestion and tumor was like a week. I wish I remembered which fern....

bracken ferns, iirc.

--

saerah

http://anisaerah.cmayes.net/blog/

"This morning, I woke up
Feeling brand new and I jumped up
Feeling my highs, and my lows
In my soul, and my goals
Just to stop smokin, and stop drinkin
And I've been thinkin - I've got my reasons
Just to get by, just to get by" -Talib Kweli

"sarah bennett" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

JoeSpareBedroom said:

Quoted message said:

A few years back, I read an article somewhere that described how a
certain kind of fern caused cancer in laboratory animals. Sounds like a
real yawn, since everything causes cancer, but the article said the time
between ingestion and tumor was like a week. I wish I remembered which
fern....

bracken ferns, iirc.
saerah

Scary stuff, whatever it is. I wonder if there are drug companies looking
into why these plants have this effect, and trying to understand why.....

Mark Thorson said:

Nancy Young said:

Thanks! They made it out to be unduly dangerous.

nancy

How do you know that? They can make people sick
unless thoroughly cooked:

http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/ethnobotany/perils/jim.htm

Fiddleheads gathered from the wild may be confused
with bracken fern, which contains carcinogens.:

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/bracken.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10415432&dopt=Abstract

Stop being a scarmonger, Mark. Anyone who knows what an ostrich fern is
knows how to pick and choose fiddleheads. I'm pretty sure Nancy didn't buy
fiddleheads at the market only to be poisoned.

Jill

JoeSpareBedroom said:

"Nancy Young" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I went over to Whole Foods to pick up some granola.
Swung through the produce section thinking, maybe they
have fiddlehead ferns, I wanted to give them a shot.

Of course they do, it's that time of the year. And, above
them? A WARNING. That's how I like my food, with
warnings, I don't know about you. Anyway, seems I'm
to wash them a number of times before boiling them for
15 minutes! Say what? Or I could steam them for 11-13
minutes.

So, wash and cook the hell out of them, is that how youns
make fiddlehead ferns?

nancy

A few years back, I read an article somewhere that described how a
certain kind of fern caused cancer in laboratory animals. Sounds like
a real yawn, since everything causes cancer, but the article said the
time between ingestion and tumor was like a week. I wish I remembered
which fern....

Considering our American ancestors and the native Americans before them (not
to mention wild animals) have been chowing down on this particular fern-bud
for who knows how many years, I'd say you're being an alarmist. I ate
several pounds of them a few years back when a former RFC poster sent me
some that he and his son and picked (thank you, Kendall!). I can't find
them down here in frozen form but they were absolutely delicious. I didn't
need to do more than wash and slight cleaning of them, much as I'd do with
fresh greens from down here in the southern U.S. No one died. They are
delicious.

Jill

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Considering our American ancestors and the native Americans before them
(not
to mention wild animals) have been chowing down on this particular
fern-bud
for who knows how many years, I'd say you're being an alarmist. I ate
several pounds of them a few years back when a former RFC poster sent me
some that he and his son and picked (thank you, Kendall!). I can't find
them down here in frozen form but they were absolutely delicious. I
didn't
need to do more than wash and slight cleaning of them, much as I'd do with
fresh greens from down here in the southern U.S. No one died. They are
delicious.

Jill

Nice writing, but you would do well to read other people's comments MUCH
more slowly before you respond.

I said this:
"I wish I remembered which fern...."

and your response suggested that my response was about the fern fiddleheads.
It was not. Lay off the wine, or type more slowly.

JoeSpareBedroom said:

"jmcquown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Considering our American ancestors and the native Americans before
them (not
to mention wild animals) have been chowing down on this particular
fern-bud
for who knows how many years, I'd say you're being an alarmist. I
ate several pounds of them a few years back when a former RFC poster
sent me some that he and his son and picked (thank you, Kendall!).
I can't find them down here in frozen form but they were absolutely
delicious. I didn't
need to do more than wash and slight cleaning of them, much as I'd
do with fresh greens from down here in the southern U.S. No one
died. They are delicious.

Jill

Nice writing, but you would do well to read other people's comments
MUCH more slowly before you respond.

I said this:
"I wish I remembered which fern...."

and your response suggested that my response was about the fern
fiddleheads. It was not. Lay off the wine, or type more slowly.

Sorry, I said it's the ostrich fern that grows in the northeast U.S. You
mentioned a specific fern and I clarified it is the ostrich fern. Why you
replied about fiddleheads with a fatalistic post about some other sort of
fern will kill someone is irrelevant, IMHO.

Jill

Mark Thorson said:

How do you know that? They can make people sick
unless thoroughly cooked:

http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/ethnobotany/perils/jim.htm

Fiddleheads gathered from the wild may be confused
with bracken fern, which contains carcinogens.:

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/bracken.htm

Quoted message said:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10415432&dopt=Abstract

Damn. I live in the PNW and our yard is *full* of ferns. I need
someone to come out and show me which species if any are edible...it's
hard to tell from an internet picture.

-L.

-L. said:

Mark Thorson said:

How do you know that? They can make people sick
unless thoroughly cooked:

http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/ethnobotany/perils/jim.htm

Fiddleheads gathered from the wild may be confused
with bracken fern, which contains carcinogens.:

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/poison/bracken.htm

Quoted message said:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10415432&dopt=Abstract

Quoted message said:

Damn. I live in the PNW and our yard is *full* of ferns. I need
someone to come out and show me which species if any are edible...it's
hard to tell from an internet picture.

-L.

LOL yes you do... they need to be ostrich ferns, unfurled.

Jill

Nancy Young said:

"Mark Thorson" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Nancy Young said:

Thanks! They made it out to be unduly dangerous.

Quoted message said:

How do you know that? They can make people sick
unless thoroughly cooked:

http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/ethnobotany/perils/jim.htm

Anyone want some unused fiddlehead ferns? Cheap!

Lost your appetite, Nancy? I'm sure that they'll be safe if you cook
them as directed... and if you like to live on the wildside, then try
them lightly steamed! I think I'll pass though... but even if they did
make you sick it wouldn't kill you - look on it as a learning
experience :P

"jmcquown" <

<snip>
Kendall had washed them

Quoted message said:

for me but I had to pick over them and wash them again.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Jill
===========

Have you heard from K3 lately? I tried to get hold of him a while back...
but got nothing!

Thanks.
--
Syssi

Syssi said:

"jmcquown" <

<snip>
Kendall had washed them

Quoted message said:

for me but I had to pick over them and wash them again.

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Jill
===========

Have you heard from K3 lately? I tried to get hold of him a while
back... but got nothing!

Thanks.

I haven't, no. Every once in a while he pops in to say he's okay but I
think his illness has him focused on other things.

Jill