Fiddleheads a favourite sign of spring for some Islanders

For many, it's the first feed of lobster, the first round of golf or the first tulips in bloom.

But for some, one of the best signs of spring on P.E.I. is fiddlehead season.

Kate MacQuarrie, the province's director of forests, fish and wildlife, said picking the tiny, rolled-up ferns is one of her favourite pastimes.

"You know, on a beautiful spring day down by the river, out in the woods. Very, very enjoyable."

Fiddleheads are just starting to come up, and the Island is about a week away from peak season, she said.

"Where you'd want to look for them is in flood plains," she said. "So right down by our streams and rivers."

Ostrich fern

P.E.I. has about two dozen varieties of ferns on the Island so you have to careful you collect the proper ostrich fern, MacQuarrie said.

"The fiddlehead is really distinctive when it comes up. It has kind of a brown papery coating over it," she said.

"The only other fern that you could mistake it with in that habitat would be cinnamon fern and cinnamon fern has cinnamon-coloured fuzz. So stay away from the fuzzy ferns."

Every spring, Trisha Viaene takes a basket and paring knife and forages for fiddleheads at her favourite location. She said she only picks enough for herself to sell a bit at the Riverview Country Market in Charlottetown.

"You want to leave it for other folks to be able to enjoy foraging, as well." 

Viaene said she likes to steam the fiddleheads for about seven minutes and serve them with hollandaise sauce. 

Sautéed in butter

She said in New Brunswick, where fiddleheads are more plentiful, it's common to sauté the steamed fiddleheads with onions, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and butter.

Viaene said if stored properly, fiddleheads can last about two weeks.

"You have to wash them thoroughly so after you pick them, you clean them, wash them and then you just keep them in a container in your fridge and that's all you need to do."

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