All Recipes

How to Cook a Quick Fiddlehead Fern Recipe:

This fiddlehead fern recipe is sauteed up with ginger and garlic and served over thin rice noodles. Fiddlehead ferns are edible, and easy to cook and use in many different recipes. Always blanch fiddleheads before using in any recipe, fiddleheads when cut from the wild contain trace amounts of an unknown toxin, so it is important to follow the steps of any recipe, (this recipe included!) to ensure safe handling.

Fiddleheads used in recipes can be baked, sauteed, fried, and stewed. I prefer for aesthetic reasons to keep my fiddleheads intact when using fiddlehead ferns in recipes.

What do Fiddleheads Taste Like:

If you are asking “What do Fiddleheads taste Like?” Fiddleheads have a flavor that is akin to green beans, asparagus and broccoli rabe, with a touch of earthiness and a moss like smell. Keep this flavor profile of the fern in mind if you chose to create some fiddlehead recipes of your own. This foraged fronded vegetable lends itself wonderfully to multiple cuisines and cooking techniques.

Gather your ingredients for this Fiddlehead Stir-fry:

This is a super quick, easy recipe to incorporate fiddlehead fern into a recipe with delicious results. Gathering all of the ingredients together will make throwing this stir-fry dish together a snap! Any rice noodles will do here, I prefer a medium flat variety, the sauce sticks to the noodle creating a sumptuous, stick to your belly one pan meal.

How to Use Fiddleheads in a Recipe:

How to use Fiddlehead fern recipes? Fiddleheads can be sauteed, baked, fried, or slow cooked into a soup, the kitchen techniques you can use fiddleheads in a recipe is quite extensive! This recipe uses sauteing for quick, simple, healthy dinner or lunch option. A few simple ingredients pull this recipe together fast and really let the flavor of the fiddlehead shine.

Shrimp adds protein and rice noodles are a light carbohydrate that mixes well with the other ingredients. As always I instruct to blanch the fiddleheads for several minutes to remove any unknown toxins before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.

Where to Find Fiddleheads:

Where to find fiddleheads? Emerging in the early spring, fiddleheads are one of the first signs of spring. Protruding from the ground amid last years now browned fern leaves, they have a tell tale curled appearance. Fiddleheads are the furled fronds of a young fern, and several varieties are edible. The most commonly consumed fiddleheads come from the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), known for their distinct flavor and texture. It’s important to properly identify ferns before consuming them, as not all varieties are safe to eat.

If you are not a forager: Fiddleheads are readily available at most farmers markets, farm stands and surprisingly Hannaford Supermarkets, if you are in the North East.