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May 31, 2005

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Comments

clare eats

Hi Lex :)
this looks sooo good!
I have never seen fresh fidle heads in Australia, although I saw some a bit like them in a Korean grocery store.... but they were preserved.

The new veggie night sounds good (but bad as a kid lol) but how did your mum find enough new veggies for all those friday nights?

I always hated brussel sprouts as a kid, though my boyf just the other week convinced me to try them again ( I am ALWAYS telling him to just try and not ask so many questions, so I couldnt refuse.) I steamed them til they were tender (not mushy at all) with other veggies then tossed them with fresh herbs, alittle butter and S&P. You know what? They were good....

Nicky

Hi there!
I've not heard anything about this sort of vegetable, nor have I seen it before. Looks stylish (and maybe a little strange...)! Just searched the net for a translation to German - no success... But I found various information on that food-borne-illness, I always knew, that there could be a dark side to vegetables ;)

Stephanie

Wow...that takes me back. When I was small, we'd walk through the woods, looking for fiddleheads! We never ate them, but my step-Aunt would pack them off and take sell them to restaurants in Pittsburgh.

As a child, I actually *loved* brussell sprouts. I'd eat them by peeling them, layer after layer. These days, the very smell makes me sick!

Zarah Maria

They look so cool! We don't have anything like that here - I think... I'll have to keep my eyes peeled!

And wow, New Veggie Night... I should do that to myself! It's like it's always the same bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes... You got me thinking here!

Ana

Fiddleheads! I've had them some time in the early 80's when I was a "new Canadian" and wanted to taste everything that this land had to offer.

I remember finding the taste OK but, having done my civic duty, never had them again. I've seen them at Loblaws so I have no excuse...This dish you made looks very appetizing. Maybe it is time to try them again.

Elvira

It looks very fresh and tasty.

Molly

That looks delicious! What a wonderful combination. I've been wanting to try fiddleheads for a while, but they are a bit hard to find around here. I'll have to be more persistent...

anthony

They're quite popular in Japan. I can't remeber what they're called, but they're part of the group known as mountain vegetables and appear in rice or soba/udon soup. I ahd some vegetable as tempura a while ago and all they could tell me was that "it grows near the river" They're really part of a long lost tradition of eating stuff that is out there growing that doesn't seem to happen any more. Rocket just used to be a case of old Italian women going along the street picking weeds.

Good for you for giving them a go and doing so well with them.

Don

Just a another caveat regarding fiddleheads - only the tightly curled little shoots are edible, you shouldn't eat the large unfurled ones.

Why? Fiddleheads contain a natural toxin, which is probably what caused the cases of food poisoning. So larger shoots = greater concentration of toxin built up.

Be sure if you pick them in the wild, they're from the ostrich fern (the bracken fern looks similar)

Lyn

Clare:
I was surprised when living in Australia how popular brussells sprouts are! Good on you for the effort! I may try them yet.

Nicky:
Since it's really an Eastern North America thing, maybe no one German has ever had it before? They definitely taste quite unlike anything else.

Stephanie:
It really is amazing how food is at the root of so many vivid childhood memories. Do you suppose this is true for eveyone, or just those of us obsessed with food generally?


Zarah:
New veggie night is actually a pretty appealing sort of idea. When you think about it, we probably all tend to stick to a roster of 20 or 30 major food ingredients unless something prompts us to try something new. Maybe my mum was on to something there.

Ana:
I'll admit, they are an odd taste. Perhaps an acquired one. That said, I've seen some lovely recipes for lemony fiddlehead soups that sond marvellous. if you're keen to try them again, maybe that would be the
way to go.

Elvira:
Thanks!

Molly:
They can be hard to find, probably because their growing season is so short. Adult ferns are actually poisonous! I think you can sometimes get them frozen though. Maybe at a specialty shop?

Anthony:
Crazy where we get some of our foods, eh? Do you reckon in 40 years we'll be eating say, bird of paradise salad?

Don:
Thanks for the "heads"-up [groan].

I read a few articles about eating fidlleheads and, although they say the adult ones are toxic, they didn't mention about the larger, looser fiddleheads!

This is another fine example of a food that makes me wonder who the heck was the first guy to try eating these? Did he just wake up one day and say to himself, " I know the big ferns made Bob and Marge really sick, but maybe if I eat the little ones, I'll be okay."

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad he did!

Michele

Hi Lyn, it was a nice trip down memory lane to read about the fiddleheads! My father only ever brought them home once that I can remember but it was such an event, my brother and I were so curious about the little things and were pleased as punch with how they tasted! Nice post :)

Lyn

Michele:
For the event to have stuck with us both well into our adulthood, well, that's a pretty fantastic thing about loving food so much, don't you think? I reckon we're pretty priviledged individuals as foodies to have that extra stash of vivd memoried related to food!

I can imagine, that a child might think they looked like curled up caterpillars or something. I reckon that'd be an enduring memory!

Sam

love the new look - not sure about the fiddleheads though. I have never seen them, though I have heard they exist round here. They just don't look like my idea of food. Give me the pasta, prosciutto & cheese without any green bits any time :)
trying to work out my typo on FBS. It's too early i the morning & I just can't see it. I'll try again later.

Nicky

Hi Lyn,
some coincidences are almost too unbelievable to be true: I read your post about fiddleheads on June 1st, then we went for a special dinner with friends (kind of surprise menu) on Friday June 3rd - and I didn't believe my eyes when we were served ox with spring vegetables including fiddleheads! Here in Germany! They tasted quite interesting - I always need some time to become friends with new ingredients/food. Thanks to you and your blog I was in the lucky position to tell the whole table about them ;) And not to forget, we asked the cook for the proper German translation, "Farnspitzen" it is!

Hande

Oh, Farnspitzen! Have to go look for them, would love to try them, your pasta recipe sounds so delicious!

edhardy

I read your article! Well, I like!
Some online shops you can go to find something different.

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