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Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/10/2012 3:38:21 PM   
kalikshama


Posts: 14805
Joined: 8/8/2010
Status: offline 		On my walk today I noticed furled fern fronds, two varieties, none with the papery brown covering of ostrich ferns:



Do any of you harvest and cook these, and for how long?

The CDC recommends boiling for 15 minutes, which seems overlong, and probably due to the food poisoning outbreak in 1994 attributed to ferns. http://umaine.edu/publications/files/2010/04/fiddleheads-032sm.jpg

Emeril recommends blanching for 3-5 minutes and then sauteing for 2 minutes, which seems a more reasonable length of cooking time.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/fiddlehead-ferns-and-angel-hair-pasta-recipe/index.html

If boiling for 15 minutes is the only way to safely cook fiddleheads but makes them overcooked/mushy, I'll forego them altogether.

Thanks!

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/10/2012 6:42:23 PM   
Duskypearls


Posts: 3561
Joined: 8/21/2011
Status: offline 		I like young, tightly curled fronds briefly blanched then sauteed with wild leeks & wild mushrooms in garlic, butter, S&P, a little dry white wine, and then topped them with crumbled gorgonzola cheese. YUM!

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/10/2012 8:40:24 PM   
AngelOfSilence


Posts: 119
Joined: 5/8/2012
Status: offline 		CDC is nuts, Emeril is correct.

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/10/2012 8:51:45 PM   
TNDommeK


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Status: offline 		If we don't here from you tomorrow, we will know you didn't cook them long enough, lol. Seriously I have never heard of them.

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/10/2012 8:53:30 PM   
LookieNoNookie


Posts: 12216
Joined: 8/9/2008
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: kalikshama

On my walk today I noticed furled fern fronds, two varieties, none with the papery brown covering of ostrich ferns:



Do any of you harvest and cook these, and for how long?

The CDC recommends boiling for 15 minutes, which seems overlong, and probably due to the food poisoning outbreak in 1994 attributed to ferns. http://umaine.edu/publications/files/2010/04/fiddleheads-032sm.jpg

Emeril recommends blanching for 3-5 minutes and then sauteing for 2 minutes, which seems a more reasonable length of cooking time.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/fiddlehead-ferns-and-angel-hair-pasta-recipe/index.html

If boiling for 15 minutes is the only way to safely cook fiddleheads but makes them overcooked/mushy, I'll forego them altogether.

Thanks!




You can make food out of this shit?

(I'm still trying to figure out how to make food out of the shit in my fridge).

< Message edited by LookieNoNookie -- 5/10/2012 8:54:07 PM >

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 6:52:10 AM   
mnottertail


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Status: offline 		http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/qa/fiddlehead-facts.aspx

I like them steamed.  5 minutes minimum to 8 minutes maximum should suffice.

Wash them well, they are only mildly toxic, dont eat 10 pounds.    They aint gonna kill you, a little shits and giggles is about the high point if they arent done enough.

Hey, lotta people eat them raw.  The toxicity sort of varies from person to person, if you get sick, then you dont get to be a fiddlehead earth momma, for you they are dorty dorty gamboo.



< Message edited by mnottertail -- 5/11/2012 6:54:23 AM >

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 8:11:41 AM   
kalikshama


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quote:

If we don't here from you tomorrow, we will know you didn't cook them long enough, lol.


Saturday would be the day to get concerned - am going to look for these today at Mom's.

Thanks all!

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 8:20:16 AM   
mnottertail


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Status: offline 		wear gloves, the fuckin poison ivy is laying in wait as well.



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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 8:29:44 AM   
DesFIP


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Status: offline 		Personally I'd skip the Gorgonzola. But that's me.

Fiddleheads I treat like thin asparagus spears, put in a skillet with a half inch of water, when the water boils off add some olive oil or butter, garlic and saute for a few. Maybe a little Parmesan for the kids who won't eat veggies without cheese, but preferably not.

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 11:56:46 AM   
LaTigresse


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quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

wear gloves, the fuckin poison ivy is laying in wait as well.




I don't know about anywhere else but it is thicker here this year, than I have ever seen. When we went hunting for morels I felt like I was wearing HAZMAT gear and decontaminating when we got back.

I cannot imagine not keeping Tecnu in the house.

< Message edited by LaTigresse -- 5/11/2012 11:57:18 AM >

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 12:05:49 PM   
LadyHibiscus


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Status: offline 		And that, friends, is why I am not an outdoorswoman.

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 12:20:08 PM   
Hillwilliam


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quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

wear gloves, the fuckin poison ivy is laying in wait as well.




I don't know about anywhere else but it is thicker here this year, than I have ever seen. When we went hunting for morels I felt like I was wearing HAZMAT gear and decontaminating when we got back.

I cannot imagine not keeping Tecnu in the house.

Clean exposed skin with rubbing alcohol within an hour of exposure. That keeps the poison ivy at bay. My problem this year has been with ticks after our mild winter. The early spring meant that most of the ramps were gone before I could get up into the mountains looking for them.

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 12:28:01 PM   
LadyHibiscus


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Status: offline 		I didnt think you "looked" for ramps!

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 12:52:57 PM   
Alecta


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Status: offline 		I can't bring myself to trust anything growing wild out of the ground this close to urban civilisation.

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 1:07:05 PM   
LadyHibiscus


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Status: offline 		We used to pick dandelion greens back in the day, no way would I do it now.

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 1:13:55 PM   
BKSir


Posts: 4037
Joined: 4/8/2008
From: Salt Lake City, UT
Status: offline 		Christ! 15 minutes!? O.o How about I just put some green food colouring in a bowl of oatmeal for you, it'll be about the same.
Fiddleheads are possibly my favorite green thing on the planet. I seriously freakin LOVE those things. Now, Emeril is closer to correct. I would go an extra 30 seconds to 1 minute, but that's just me... IF I was blanching them. Personally, I prefer to sautee them in butter, salt and pepper for about 4 minutes, keeping them moving. But good god... 15 minutes? What the actual fuck?

EDIT to add: I want to know the group of morons that came up with that, their specific names, so I can make sure that they are kicked out of every single reputable restaurant on this planet, including my own. I will NOT serve these morons.

< Message edited by BKSir -- 5/11/2012 1:14:44 PM >

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 2:51:51 PM   
LaTigresse


Posts: 26123
Joined: 1/15/2006
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam


quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

wear gloves, the fuckin poison ivy is laying in wait as well.




I don't know about anywhere else but it is thicker here this year, than I have ever seen. When we went hunting for morels I felt like I was wearing HAZMAT gear and decontaminating when we got back.

I cannot imagine not keeping Tecnu in the house.

Clean exposed skin with rubbing alcohol within an hour of exposure. That keeps the poison ivy at bay. My problem this year has been with ticks after our mild winter. The early spring meant that most of the ramps were gone before I could get up into the mountains looking for them.


Nope, we won't even bother with the alchohol.

The clothing goes from body to washer with a few squirts of Tecnu immediate upon entering the house. Then, we just rub the Tecnu all over like lotion, let sit for a couple of minutes, then shower. I've even bathed the dogs and cat with it.

Tecnu ROCKS.

(I don't get poison ivy but Generic Dude is hideously sensitive to it.)

_____________________________

My twisted, self deprecating, sense of humour, finds alot to laugh about, in your lack of one!

Just because you are well educated, articulate, and can use big, fancy words, properly........does not mean you are right!

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 2:55:46 PM   
LadyHibiscus


Posts: 27124
Joined: 8/15/2005
From: Island Of Misfit Toys
Status: offline 		I am horribly sensitive to that kind of thing, though my skin is generally sturdy. Never heard of Technu, but will pass on the intel.

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 3:03:43 PM   
mnottertail


Posts: 60698
Joined: 11/3/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse
Tecnu ROCKS.

(I don't get poison ivy but Generic Dude is hideously sensitive to it.)


I once made the mistake of talking with a farmer neighbor buddy of mine who ws taking a break on a hot day, and he had been baling..

I absently reached down near the fenceline where I was, and scooped up some hay to smell it, cuz I like the smell of cut alfalfa (and actually chew it time to time) and it smelled funny and I looked down and there was some goddam ivy entangled in it, and it having dried had that white powdery nasty shit all over it except where my nose was........

You talk about BDSM!!!!! You got a slave needing a fuckin punishment, I got one for you, blisters in my fuckin nasal passage, lung fucked up for weeks (thank god I only snorted that shit up one side) eye all pussie and watering and half my face.......fuck, didnt even hardly feel my hand itch low on the totem pole as it was over that shit......

Ya, its all fuckin funny until someone pokes poison ivy up their nose...........

Be careful out there kids......   

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RE: Safely cooking Fiddlehead Ferns - 5/11/2012 3:04:11 PM   
mummyman321


Posts: 2102
Joined: 10/31/2005
From: Dusseldorf
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse


quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam


quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

wear gloves, the fuckin poison ivy is laying in wait as well.




I don't know about anywhere else but it is thicker here this year, than I have ever seen. When we went hunting for morels I felt like I was wearing HAZMAT gear and decontaminating when we got back.

I cannot imagine not keeping Tecnu in the house.

Clean exposed skin with rubbing alcohol within an hour of exposure. That keeps the poison ivy at bay. My problem this year has been with ticks after our mild winter. The early spring meant that most of the ramps were gone before I could get up into the mountains looking for them.


Nope, we won't even bother with the alchohol.

The clothing goes from body to washer with a few squirts of Tecnu immediate upon entering the house. Then, we just rub the Tecnu all over like lotion, let sit for a couple of minutes, then shower. I've even bathed the dogs and cat with it.

Tecnu ROCKS.

(I don't get poison ivy but Generic Dude is hideously sensitive to it.)


Generic Dude? That is rather dehumanizing and funny at the same time.

My solution to posion ivy is a heavily chlorinated swimming pool. 2 or 3 hours until the skin is all pruney, and its gone!

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