Preserved Fiddleheads

Fiddleheads are from the young shoots of the Ostrich fern - Matteuccia struthiopteris - which are found across Canada, from the coasts of Labrador to the islands of British Columbia.  Our marinated fiddleheads have been twice balanced, and are preserved in a light lemon marinade; they are crisp, fresh, and full of flavour. They can be used straight from the jar as an appetizer, in salads, in a stir-fry, or in a soup. Heat them up and slather them in butter or toss them in curry and sauté them. As a fresh vegetable, they are only available for a few short weeks each spring. They pop up in clumps with seven fronds unfurling to create the ferns that blanket the forest floor and riverbeds from coast to coast. When harvesting make sure to source from a clean place and not down stream from agriculture and only harvest 3 of the 7 fiddleheads that come up with each plant. Any more and you risk hampering future growth. When cooking, it is important to boil them in two changes of salted water, for roughly 2.5 – 3 minutes in each bath. Totaling roughly 6 minutes of cooking time. Raw fiddleheads will often (not always) be bitter, this is because the papery husk has seeped tanning into the fiddleheads, however changing the water will remove the bitter tannins and leave you with something closer to green beans in flavour and a tightly furled butter sponge. We also have fresh fiddleheads when in season