Q: Is it safe to eat ferns?
A: Brilliant green, delicate fiddlehead ferns are a welcome sign that spring has arrived. Despite a shroud of confusion — even danger — and a very short season, these tasty greens are increasingly popular among chefs in fine restaurants, farmers markets, and home cooks.
Rather than a variety of fern, fiddleheads are the young, tender shoots of the fern frond, which is coiled at the tip like the scroll atop a fiddle. There are three main species of edible ferns — ostrich fern, lady fern, and bracken fern. The ostrich fern is the species most referred to as fiddlehead, and is most common on menus and in markets.
Abundant in North America, this species typically grows in shaded river valleys and sometimes forests. Unless you’re experienced, it’s best to leave the foraging to an expert because it can be tricky to distinguish the three edible species of ferns from a couple look-alikes that are unsafe to eat.
Eating fiddleheads raw is not advised, but a quick blanch readies these crisp, mildly sweet morsels to pop into a stir-fry, toss with pasta, or enliven any dish as an attractive garnish.
