Yesterday, my son and I spent the afternoon foraging for fiddleheads on his grandparents' land in Saint-Armand. My son said we weren’t allowed to stop foraging until we filled my entire bag 😂 Luckily, our timing this year for fiddlehead ferns was perfect, and after a couple of hours my bag was filled with 3+ pounds of fiddleheads! 😲

If you've never picked fiddlehead ferns before, make sure to harvest ostrich ferns (since other varieties can be toxic). The ferns should be bright green and tightly coiled (we skipped any that were brown or slightly unfurled). The tops can be pinched off easily with your fingers 👌

To prepare them, you'll want to rub off the brown papery covering then wash the heads multiple times before boiling them for a few minutes in salted water. For the best taste and texture, use fiddleheads as soon as possible after harvesting. But if you can’t eat yours right away (perhaps because you collected WAY too many 🤪), you can store them in a bowl of water in the fridge for a couple days 💡

If you've never eaten fiddleheads before, they kind of taste like a cross between spinach and green beans. We sautéed ours with olive oil, onions and garlic 😋

What are your favorite ways to enjoy fiddleheads? I've now got a fridge full of them and would love to hear your ideas! 😆