Foraging for Maine's finest

Pickled Fiddleheads

 

It is a rare and special treat to find these fabulous ferns still kicking around a Maine kitchen this time of year.  If you do find them, they are usually frozen.  Some people I've talked to have never even considered pickling their fiddle heads and found it down right strange that I would suggest such a thing.  Well, I am here to tell you that not only do I think it is one of the best ways to preserve these curly green gifts from nature to enjoy throughout the long winter months, it is also one of the most delicious ways to prepare them.  I bought some a couple of years ago through The Portland Food Coop and I have been hooked on them ever since.  

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the long standing Maine tradition of steaming fiddleheads with salt pork and slathered with butter to serve. To many, it is the only way to eat them and anything outside of that would be sacrilegious. For as long as I can recall, my family has gone foraging for fiddleheads in the springtime.  As I remember it, the very short period of time one had to harvest as much as they could possibly eat in a year was precious.  My father and my grandparents would set out every spring within the couple of weeks that the fiddleheads were prime for picking and bring back bushels of them.  In my young child's mind, the first day of the harvest was like a national holiday.  The memory of it makes me smile each and every time I sit down to enjoy a plate full of these precious greens.

I am not an authority on canning by any means so I will not be giving instructions here on how to can fiddle heads.  You will find instructions all over the internet from better sources as to how to can various different food items properly.  I have only just started to experiment with canning in the past 5 months or so.  Before then, I had only ever done quick refrigerator pickles, dilly beans and various other quick pickled products.  You can prepare quick refrigerator fiddleheads with this recipe as well.  The ones that I have posted here are canned.  Since one of my goals in the relatively near future is to create a specialty food product of my own, I decided to take a pickling and preserving class and have been experimenting ever since.

Here is the recipe for my pickled fiddleheads

1 pound of fiddleheads

2 quarts of distilled or cider vinegar

2 quarts of water

1/2 cup of pickling salt

1/4 teaspoon of black peppercorns

1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

2 cloves of crushed garlic

To prepare the fiddleheads, blanch them in boiling water for at least 5 minutes or until you are satisfied that they are no longer raw.  Raw fiddleheads can and will act as a natural laxative to put it mildly.  

Remove the fiddleheads from the boiling water and immediately plunge them into an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

To prepare the pickling brine, add the vinegar, water, and salt to a large pot and bring to a boil for two to three minutes.

Place the 2 cloves of crushed garlic, black peppercorns and the red pepper flakes in the bottom of a mason jar then fill 3/4 of the jar with the blanched fiddleheads.  Pour the brine down over the fiddleheads into the jar leaving at least a half inch of head space to the rim. Repeat for as many jars as you are able to fill.  If you are doing a quick refrigerator pickle, cover the jar and let stand until cooled and place in the refrigerator for at least a couple of days to allow the fiddleheads to absorb all of the delightful flavors of the brine.  If you are canning the fiddleheads, prepare your jars however instructed by whatever canning authority you choose to follow. 

Whatever method you decide to use for pickling, if you are a fan of fiddleheads, this is sure to become one of your favorite ways to enjoy them! As the time for foraging fiddleheads approaches each spring in the years to come, I hope that this recipe as well as the classic fiddlehead preparations of yesteryear will bring a smile to your face as they have mine!