I have Ostrich fern on the front of my house that I have been waiting years to try. I keep missing the window when they are ready so I was overjoyed when I saw my fiddlehead popping up. I chopped 9, steamed with in a pan with a little butter for 5 minutes. I plated them with just a sprinkle of flaky salt and had them for lunch today.

They were great and tasted a little like asparagus but with a more savory, earthly flavor. They were amazing and totally worth the wait. I might check tomorrow to see if I can sustainability grab a few more to have them again.

10/10 would forage again.

    • dumples@midwest.socialOP
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      12 days ago

      The rhizomes are not edible and will kill the plant if you dig them up. The tops (fiddleheads) are edible if you steam them. It shouldn’t hurt the fern if you don’t take all of the stems. They should grow back

      The ferns were here when we moved in but you can obviously buy them. They are a common shade ornamental plant that you can get most place. I think it has similar uses as most ferns.

    • dumples@midwest.socialOP
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      12 days ago

      You can eat from the stem up to the top of the Fiddlehead. Some are too far along to eat but there was enough to eat. I only ate 9 out of the total there. They aren’t all shown but as long as they aren’t all curled out they should be edible