Crunchy Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns Recipes

PICKLED FIDDDLEHEADS

Steps:

• Trim the browned ends off each fiddlehead. Discard any that are mushy or crushed. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it well. Boil the cleaned fiddleheads for 2 minutes, then plunge them into a bowl of ice water.
• Dissolve the 1/4 cup of salt in the quart of water. Fill a glass jar (I use a Mason quart jar) 3/4 of the way up with fiddleheads, which should be the whole pound. If not, use more jars and brine. Cover the fiddleheads with the brine by about an inch. Weigh them down. I use a narrow jelly jar set into the larger wide-mouth Mason jar, but a plastic bag filled with brine works well, as might a clean rock.
• Keep the jars in a cool, darkish place away from direct sunlight, which can rob the fiddleheads of their color. Let them ferment for at least a week, and up to 2 weeks. You might notice a little mold on the top of the brine: This is perfectly OK, just skim it off.
• When the fiddleheads taste crunchy and tangy, which I noticed after about 10 days, you are ready to store them. I fill pint jars with the spices -- split 50-50 -- and then repack them with fiddleheads. Pour over the brine from the original jars and screw on lids. Keep in the fridge indefinitely, although they will get tangier as time goes by.

CRUNCHY PICKLED FIDDLEHEAD FERNS

Steps:

• Bring the 4 cups water and salt to a boil, then remove from the heat and add the vinegar. This is your pickling liquid-reserve it until needed.
• Bring the 1.5 gallons of water to a rolling boil. Add the fiddlehead ferns to the pot, then cook for exactly 1.5 minutes (90 seconds) covering the pot to increase the heat, stirring the fiddles occasionally to ensure even blanching. Immediately remove the fiddleheads to drain and stop their cooking.
• Pack pint jars full of the still-hot fiddleheads, placing a piece of lemon zest, a clove of garlic, and a sprig or two of thyme in each jar (or whatever flavorings you're using).
• Reheat the pickle liquid to rolling boil in small pot and pour into the jars, covering all of the fiddleheads, up to the very top of the jar. Screw on the lids and and turn the jars upside down. Leave the jars to cool, for a few hours like this.
• After the jars are completely cool, inspect the jars, you should find they've formed seals, just as if you were to use a water bath canner, but without the excess heat and time that would make them soft. Voila! Crisp pickled fiddleheads.
• Look over the jars carefully to make sure they've all formed seals. Refrigerate any that haven't sealed.

SAUTEED FIDDLEHEADS

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook fiddlehead ferns in the boiling water until barely tender, 7 to 10 minutes; drain.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the prepared fiddlehead ferns, garlic, and the salt and pepper. Cook and stir until ferns are tinged lightly brown and tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and sprinkle with lemon juice.

SAUTEED FIDDLEHEAD FERNS

Steps:

• Remove the dry, sheathlike papery particles from the fiddleheads. Fill a medium bowl with cool water; add 1 teaspoon salt and the lemon juice. Add ferns, and push them down into the water several times to clean them. Transfer to paper towel to drain.
• On a steamer rack set over an inch of water in a saucepan, steam fiddleheads, covered, until tender, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add fiddleheads, and cook 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until golden. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

FIDDLEHEAD FERNS

Steps:

• Before you're ready to cook cut about 1/8-inch off the thick ends if they look brown and rinse the fern shoots thoroughly to get rid of the brown fuzzy chaff that clings to their sides. Dry the shoots thoroughly before cooking by first spinning them in a lettuce spinner and then patting them with paper towels. Melt butter in a pan at medium heat. Add garlic, parsley and fiddleheads to the pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Saute for 5 minutes or until they are done.

SAUTEED FIDDLEHEAD FERNS (BASIC RECIPE)

Steps:

• Trim the fiddleheads so that the stem end is about 2 inches long. Rub the dry brown flakes off the fiddleheads, and rinse well.
• Fill a saucepan with cool water and plunge the fiddleheads into the water to rinse off any grit.
• Remove the fiddleheads from the pan, change the water, and repeat the soaking. Rinse the fiddleheads under running water to remove any remaining grit.
• Rinse and dry the saucepan. Measure oil and butter into it and heat until the butter is melted.
• Add the fiddleheads and sauté, stirring with a wooden spoon, for about 5 minutes. Fiddleheads will be bright green and crispy. Add salt and pepper to taste.

SWEET PICKLED FIDDLEHEADS

Steps:

• Distribute washed fiddleheads in pint jars.
• Mix vinegar, sugar and salt in saucepan; bring to a boil.
• Pour over fiddleheads in jars; place seals and screw on bands fingertip tight.
• Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.