Fiddleheads are unfurled fern tops that look like the top of a violin. In French they are called tête de violon or violin heads.
Fiddleheads are very toxic if not prepared properly. If you eat them al dente or worse yet, raw, you will have an upset tummy, you will vomit and all sorts of other gastric nasties will befall you. Trust me, you do not want to go there and there is even a health warning by the Canadian Health Bureau about fiddleheads. It's serious!
That being said, fiddleheads are easy to prepare and yummy to eat. When you buy them, think of them in the same line as asparagus. You want them to be green and crispy, not limp. They must be unfurled. Another warning... they are expensive!
Fill your sink with cold water and dump in the fiddleheads. Cut off the stem to the point where the fern is curled. Rub off the brown beard that these ferns have to leave only green (some brown is okay but the cleaner the better.) Empty out the water in the sink and rinse the fiddleheads again in another bath of cold water.
You can see the brown beards on these unwashed fiddleheads. That long stem will be cut off completely.
Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Toss in the fiddleheads and leave to boil for 10-15 minutes until they are soft. Not mush but not al dente (see note above about health issues!)
At this point I just toss them with some margarine
and eat them like that. Sometimes I toss in a bit of reduced sodium soy sauce. You can also toss the fiddleheads into pasta or make a stirfry with them after they are boiled I just like to enjoy the nutty flavour of them without anything else.
Yum!
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