When fiddleheads (or “têtes de violons” to us in Quebec) start popping up from the wet forest floor, we know spring is really upon us. Their arrival kicks off the growing season at Les Jardins Sauvages, our woodland table specializing in wild edibles. Everyone jumps to life, suddenly excited, celebratory, and very busy. Cooks and customers are eager to put something local, crunchy and green on their plates, and pickers are pumped to reconnect with nature and make a buck. The season is short, fast and frenzied — intoxicating.

As the first pickings hit the market, shoppers dive in, giddy for a taste of green, hungry for this telltale sign that all things seasonal, regional and crisp are right around the corner. Quebeckers go crazy for fiddleheads, as they are an integral part of our rites of spring. Around Easter, it all starts, the 1-2-3 ritual: visit the sugar shack, remove winter tires, seek out fiddleheads. Early May is typically the peak of fiddlehead madness.

Our love affair with fiddleheads goes beyond the fact that the crop is the first of the parade. Healthy and versatile, fiddleheads offer up so many options in the kitchen, on their own or as a sprightly addition to just about any recipe. Only one thing — they must be cooked! Fiddleheads are indigestible in their raw state. Any bad media the poor little fern has received stems from people eating them raw or insufficiently cooked, usually from a questionable source.

Foraging
When procuring them in the wild, not all fiddlehead ferns are created equal. The prized edible variety is the ostrich fern (matteuccia struthiopteris), picked  when young, before the sprout unfurls. They grow in wooded areas gorged with water, often adjacent to flooded river beds. Not only is it important to choose the right plant at the right time, it is crucial to pick in a non-polluted environment (preferably not next to a highway, for example).

Proper harvesting is equally important. Snap off the tops within an inch or two of the ground, leaving part of the cluster alone. The best fiddleheads are picked close to the ground, even still partially buried. Be warned — If you’re foraging, hearty fiddleheads mean bruised, dirt-stained hands. The freshly picked coins are naturally covered in a rusty brown, papery skin that must be rubbed off under running water.

Purchasing
When purchasing fiddleheads, buy them from a reputable source. Look for tight curls that are bright green and plump. It is normal to see the cut tips of the stem browning (inevitable oxidation), but dark centers are a sign of age and should be avoided.

Cooking
Fiddleheads need to be washed thoroughly, and then cooked in plenty of boiling salted water. Refresh them in ice water afterward cooking to preserve as much color as possible. Contrary to most chefs’ instincts, these babies taste better on the cooked side of al dente, when the green, bitter notes move towards rich, earthy and nutty.

After a problematic batch on the market several years back, the government advised cooking them for an excessive 15 minutes. However, with good quality fiddleheads, 8-10 minutes (or even less) is sufficient with a big enough pot of water. In order to use a shorter cooking time, we cook them twice for 2-3 minutes, changing the water in between.

Finishing Touches
Once cooked, fiddleheads can be tossed in vinaigrette for a salad or sautéed in butter or olive oil. One of my favourite ways with fresh fiddleheads is in a stir-fry or cold Asian style salad with soy, garlic, ginger, chilli, sherry vinegar and sesame.

They are also terrific hot with bacon, onions and garlic. Or use in place of asparagus — with hollandaise, in an omelette or gratin. An old Quebec recipe François shared with me requires cooking them a long time with salt pork – so un-chef-like because it ain’t pretty, but it was so delicious I’m sold. In such dishes, as with soup, what you lose in colour, you gain in flavour.

Preserving
In early spring, it’s all about serving them straight up, but I put up a good deal too, pickling them, as well as freezing some in vacuum packs for the winter.

I hope I’ve inspired you to hit the market (or the forest) and get to it! Next thing you know, the fiddlehead season will be over. Within weeks, it will be a sweet kiss goodbye, as we greedily move on to our many summer lovers, forgetting about them until the magic returns next year.

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Photos and text by Nancy Hinton.

Nancy Hinton is the chef at La Table des Jardins Sauvages, a woodland table specializing in wild plants and mushrooms, outside of Montreal. You can read about her food adventures on her blog Soup Nancy.