christmas/ sword fern?

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Mikemazz	christmas/ sword fern?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 53 (04/22/08 3:47 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None Does this look like christmas/sword fern fiddle heads? And how edible are they. How to prepare them? Thanks, Miakel
Hillbilly NC		#1	[-]
Posts: 2224 (04/22/08 4:52 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Yep, that's christmas fern. I'm not sure about the edibility, I've never personally known anyone to eat them. they're awfully fuzzy and scaly, even if safe, they probably wouldn't be nearly as good as ostrich ferns. A lot of people eat bracken fern fiddleheads, but seems like I've heard that eating a lot of them can break down the B-complex vitamins in your system. Save the Cro-Magnons
Haines		#2	[-]
Posts: 701 (04/23/08 5:09 AM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I'm with Hillbilly NC (I do not eat Polystichum acrostichoides--christmas fern--nor do I know anyone who does). For whatever it is worth, the compound that destroys vitamin B in Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern) is an enzyme called thiaminase. It is destroyed with the heat of cooking. Haines
Pamunkey		#3	[-]
Posts: 1263 (04/23/08 12:35 PM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	There are tons of articles on the web about the carcinogenic properties found in bracken. Most of them point to the high incidence of stomach cancer in Japan, where bracken is eaten frequently, as evidence. I don't question that it contains these components; I just would like to know how great a risk eating it poses. For example, sassafras and pulled pork barbeque both contain carcinogenic substances, but that doesn't stop me from consuming them on occasion. I'm not sure about the edibility of ferns other than ostrich fern. Cinnamon fern has some toxic elements and is unpalatable, to boot. BTW, here's the first handful of bracken that I collected the other day. I've never gathered it before, because it's not that common in the areas where I do my foraging. Anyway...
conall cernach		#4	[-]
Posts: 115 (04/23/08 5:33 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	so what ferns are the best? and as to sassafras, that carcinogen fear is based on only one study using pure safrole in rats, which can't digest safrole (sorry, one of my pet rants )
Hillbilly NC		#5	[-]
Posts: 2225 (04/23/08 5:46 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The one that most people seem to like best is ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris.) Save the Cro-Magnons
Quillsnkiko		#6	[-]
Posts: 908 (04/23/08 9:06 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I tried eating fiddle heads once..never again. did not like the taste and I prepared them as per the insturctions for doing them. parboiling etc..etc.. Me and several friends really. they did not care for them either . we threw them out. " You can't stop the waves .... but, you can learn to surf."
Pamunkey		#7	[-]
Posts: 1265 (04/25/08 8:00 AM) Administrator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I think the evidence for carcinogens in cooked brackens is kind of sketchy. I cooked the ones in the above photo in salted water until tender and cooked them in an omelette with some cheese. They were ok; the flavor was mild, but the mucilaginous texture put me off. Sam Thayer says they lose this quality if dried first and rehydrated in soups, etc., or if they're canned. I wish we had ostrich fern down here, but it's pretty scarce here in VA. I ate cinnamon fern fiddleheads once as a kid (I mis-identified the plant), and they were so bitter even after cooking that I couldn't eat them.
Shuvani		#8	[-]
Posts: 41 (04/28/08 5:57 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	With sword fern, ignore the fiddleheads. Better to just dig up the roots before the leaves appear, steam, peel, & eat. I like to steam them with lemon pepper. ~Shuvani
thanrose		#9	[-]
Posts: 122 (11/24/08 3:18 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I've dug up a quart or so of nephrolepis cordifolia root tubers, AKA one of the sword ferns. The ball like knots were crisp and mild flavored. I had to ross them, or rub them together to get most of their fluff off. I bit into a couple raw, one was greener than the others having been more exposed to sunlight. Didn't notice a particular difference between green or white, old or young, big or small, so that uniformity of taste especially in the fall may mean it's a palatable foraged vegetable at any season. I know I've seen the tubers a bit more shriveled from drought. While I might not make a meal of them, they weren't bad. I'll post again when I do something more, maybe like Shuvani's lemon pepper treatment.
RedEagle JR		#10	[-]
Posts: 59 (12/12/08 6:30 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	conall cernach wrote: so what ferns are the best? and as to sassafras, that carcinogen fear is based on only one study using pure safrole in rats, which can't digest safrole (sorry, one of my pet rants ) While your comments are correct, do you really want to put a precursor to a hallucinogenic amphetamine into your system? It is true that we all consume certain amounts of other similar precursors into our system when we use cinnamon , but just something to think about. It is also of interest that the cree indians and others, used to use another of safaroles relatives in the form of flag root to ward off fatigue and a host of other ailments. The whole phenethethylamine series have been shown to have some negative effects... not normally in the amounts consumed in such things as tea. Now I am bugged that I did not go harvest any A.Calamus this year. Your Signature ...Certified arborist

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christmas/ sword fern?

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