Sauteed Fiddleheads

I never thought that I would ever have to lay eyes on fiddleheads again as long as I lived.  I was wrong.  My mother made fiddleheads once, and by the expression on my sister's and my faces, she never made them again.  It was not the taste,  it was the way they looked... exterrestrial green snail-like things....... Well, my husband went shopping, and yes, he bought a package of fiddleheads.  I searched the web, and came up with my own variation from several recipes.  They smell and have the texture of beet greens.  One of my kids tried them, and he said that they were "all right".  Once they were sauteed in butter, (you can also use olive oil)  they were not half bad.  A nice change.    For those who don't know what a fiddlehead is,  I have added a copy of the definition by Wikipedia.    YOU SHOULD TRY THESE AT LEAST ONCE. : )

48 fresh fiddleheads
2 teaspoons salt
Ground pepper
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

• Remove the brown ends from the fiddleheads
• Fill a bowl with cool water, salt and lemon juice
• Push them into the water several times to clean
• Dry on a paper towel
• Place a steaming rack in a pan with an inch of water and steam covered for 5 minutes
• Remove and drain
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat
• Cook fiddleheads for 2 minutes on each side
• Season with salt and pepper
• Serve warm

-Queenie Cuisine


Fiddleheads or Fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds of a young fern,^[1] harvested for use as a vegetable. Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new frond (circinate vernation). As fiddleheads are harvested early in the season before the frond has opened and reached its full height, they are cut fairly close to the ground.

Fiddleheads have antioxidant activity, are a source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and are high in iron and fibre.^[2] Certain varieties of fiddleheads have been shown to be carcinogenic.

The fiddlehead resembles the curled ornamentation (called a scroll) on the end of a stringed instrument, such as a violin. It is also called a crozier, after the curved staff used by bishops, which has its origins in the shepherd's crook. - Wikipedia