On 2015-08-18 11:26 AM, jmcquown wrote:

> As someone else mentioned, they need to be picked fresh before the fern
> starts to unfurl. Tightly wrapped. They look like the head of a
> fiddle/vioin, hence the name 'fiddlehead'.
>
> I wouldn't go out of my way to buy them but if I could walk out and pick
> them fresh I'd probably do so. Unfortunately they only grow way up
> north where it gets cold.
>

There is a farmer near here who grows them. There is a nice woodlot
behind us with lots of wetland in it and all sorts of ferns. I have
looked for them every year but this year was the first time I ever saw
young fiddleheads, but they were already starting to unfurl.