What is this...strange veggies?

[gogoblender 3,068]

Hey guys, I know this is gonna be a really strange post... but I just went to the grocery store to buy some veggies for my spaghetti sauce, and while buying, my eye sighted a pack of green vegetables that looked like a bunch of small coiled snakes, each vegetable no larger than the circle made tween thumb and index finger.

 

My stomach just rumbled when I spotted the pack and I snatched them up quickly. Very very green ( I must have an iron defficiency) and ...cute?

 

I asked the lady at the counter what they were but she didn't know the name for them either. And I'm not sure how to even google a question like this.

 

Can someone here help me, know what I'm talking about? Also, do you know what they are called...are they bitter or tasteless like a lettuce?

 

Thanks

 

 

gogo

 

p.s. wish I had a camera

[Timotheus 416]

You're not the only one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wishing you had a camera that is. I can't make anything out of that description lolz

[gogoblender 3,068]

Bought it in a chinese grocery store. This any clue as to what it's called?

 

 

gogo

[Genenut 8]

Is this what you saw gogo?

 

if so they are fiddleheads and are a spring delicacy and yummy with butter. ... just like lobsta ...

[gogoblender 3,068]

AH HA!!

 

Dawn, YOU ROCK

 

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankoyou

 

 

wooooooooooo

 

 

gogo

[Lord of the North 10]

And they are available here in cans too. Yum yum.

And if you know where to look you can even pick them yourself, even better fresh. Yum yum yum.

Edited May 13, 2009 by Lord of the North

[Silearth 6]

Asian Cuisine

In Indonesia, young fiddlehead ferns are cooked in a rich coconut sauce spiced with chilis, galangal, lemongrass, turmeric leaves and other spices. This dish is called Gulai Pakis, sometimes gulai paku, a dish which originated from the Minangkabau ethnic group of Indonesia.

 

In East Asia, fiddleheads of bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) are eaten as a vegetable, called warabi (蕨) in Japan, gosari (고사리) in Korea, and juécài (蕨菜) in China and Taiwan. In Korea, a typical banchan (small side dish) is gosari-namul (고사리나물) that consists of prepared fernbrake fiddleheads that have been sauteed. It is a component of the popular dish bibimbap. In Japan, bracken fiddleheads are a prized dish, and roasting the fiddleheads is reputed to neutralize any toxins in the vegetable.

 

In Japan, fiddleheads of flowering fern (Osmunda japonica), known as zenmai (薇) in Japanese, as well as those of the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), known as kogomi (コゴミ), are commonly eaten in springtime. Fiddleheads in Japan are considered sansai, or wild vegetables.

 

Well shame on me; never ever heard of them.

 

Shame on the wife who knows my love of Indonesian curries. Right now, I've got everything needed(except for the fiddleheads) to whip up a pot of Gulai Pakis.

[Viper007 0]

I've never seen those.... why in the world would u pick up some random weird looking food at the grocery? lol

[Silearth 6]

I've never seen those.... why in the world would u pick up some random weird looking food at the grocery? lol

 

Haven't you ever seen something and just decided to give it a try? Although I have been burned on that more times than I can count.

[myles 2]

I think they only grow in moist area, and indeed you only find them fresh for a short while.

 

I found them too bitter and rarely buy them, but they are needed for Bibimbap, which I really really like. But do cook them thoroughly like wiki said.

 

They are kinda like pork, don't eat them raw.

[Borg 0]

Gogo they had those in the grocery stores in Canada when I use to live there, in the frozen food section though. So you might have them there and just didn't notice them

 

http://www.wild-harvest.com/pages/fiddlehead.htm

[Flooxim 49]

We received some of these at the grocery where I'm working, and I was like : "What the heck is this?" and when I read the name of this veggie, I said something like : "What a strange name!".

Well if in english it's called "fiddleheads", in french it has a weird name, they call it "Tête de violon".

 

@gogo : I hope you got them cheaper than where I work (these are 4 dollars a pound, quite expensive)

 

 

Max

[myles 2]

So what's the verdict on it Gogo?

 

Or perhaps they are still in the fridge?

[Timotheus 416]

... in french it has a weird name, they call it "Tête de violon".

 

Actually, that's a 100% translation of fiddleheads, so it's not weird at all.

 

Tête = head

de = "of", meaning and need for translation depends on how it is used

violon = fiddle

Edited May 24, 2009 by Timotheus

[Bondbug 32]

They are the young heads off ferns in spring. We found them in a local cookbook, but we have never tried them. Didn't know you could buy them. Will look them up when we get back home week after next.

[gogoblender 3,068]

They're not being offered anymore in the store, but that one foray was a delicious experience. The "snakes" uncoiled in the sauce, and I got my green fix...fixed ^^ The flavor wasn't as strong as I thought it would be, but funness of seeing long green worms in my spaghetti sauce as the heat uncoiled them was fascinating.

 

I took a small pot of it to work and traded spoons of it to everyone else for bites of their own goodies.

 

Success

 

 

gogo

[gogoblender 3,068]

ahhh, a year has gone by...it's all flying faster and faster. Good thing is, these snakey things taht made their way to my gullet last year are back in season again.

 

Gosh...didn't know they were toxic

 

 

gogo

[chattius 2,520]

Just found this thread. Yes looks like young fern. When I was young I had to keep our animals away from fern. We have mainly 2 sorts of fern which could be eaten if starving. I was told to eat fern only if it is very young and only if cooked and only a handful a week.

 

Straussenfarn

Which looks a bit like a flower-bouquet. (Bouquet/nosegay = Strauss)

 

Adlerfarn

Which looks like the wings of an eagle(Adler, and has around the same 'wing'span).

 

It was often watched that animals eating Adlerfarn developed mouth and throat cancer. Wikipedia claims that this fern is eaten ad fiddleheads in america. Adlerfarn is a pest in our region , because we have a century long tradition of 'Hauberge'. Hau = hew/hack, Berg = hill/mountain. I don't know how you call it in english, there is no english wiki entry. We do not chop a whole forest. Only small acres. So if you watch from above it is like a chess board, each square with a different age of trees- none older than 25 years. The wood was used for charcoal for the iron/steel industry at Wetzlar. After a square was chopped it was used the first 2 years for rye. Nowadays the wood is used for wood pellets heating systems.

 

Our local Club for history and tradition has a very nice homepage with a lot of pictures, but in german. if you want to see some picture what a hauberg is click through the page.

The Hauberg where I live

[Rotluchs 82]

It was often watched that animals eating Adlerfarn developed mouth and throat cancer. Wikipedia claims that this fern is eaten ad fiddleheads in america. Adlerfarn is a pest in our region , because we have a century long tradition of 'Hauberge'. Hau = hew/hack, Berg = hill/mountain. I don't know how you call it in english, there is no english wiki entry. We do not chop a whole forest. Only small acres. So if you watch from above it is like a chess board, each square with a different age of trees- none older than 25 years. The wood was used for charcoal for the iron/steel industry at Wetzlar. After a square was chopped it was used the first 2 years for rye. Nowadays the wood is used for wood pellets heating systems.

 

Our local Club for history and tradition has a very nice homepage with a lot of pictures, but in german. if you want to see some picture what a hauberg is click through the page.

The Hauberg where I live

 

maybe it's a specific type of "Kahlschlag" (clearcutting) , or just another word for it?

 

from your description, maybe 'patch clearcut' would fit here, as one of the common 'clearcutting' types described on the wiki?

 

I had no idea what gogo might have found in his store, but the first thought I had when looking at the pic below then, even before reading the text was: looks like farn.. even the english words sounds similar

 

just from the looks I can imagine why it might be common in asian,chinese,japanese etc. kitchens, it looks like little dragons to me, which sure is a common symbol there..

 

but didnt't knew you can actually eat them..

 

very common here in the forest near the area where I live is also the

 

"Wurmfarn":

[chattius 2,520]

Coppicing seems to be more the english term. At our place it is mainly oak and birch. The bark from the oaks was used for the tanning industry, the birch for charcoal and has a faster growing cycle.

The roots remain and then rye and buckwheat were sew between the roots. It is a hilly landscape where heavy harvest machines never could be used. So the rye/buckwheat was harvested with scythe and sickles.

You can see that new branches/twigs are already grewing out of the remaining roots at the rye harvest. I wouldn't call this a clearcut. There are squares with trees of different ages all around. So animals find a retreat easily.

 

A special breed of robust caddle was used:Rotes Höhenvieh

Able to pull a plow or a carriage with wood, you could milk it, it had tasty meat and it could survive in the forests. The race was nearly extincted after WW2 but dated back to the time when the celts settled in the area.

Also a half-wild boar/pig breed was living in the forests getting very fat by all the acorns but had to be kept awayfrom the rye.

 

The forest in the valleys used to be older. The trees there were used for house making, carpentry= that was where my family was in.

 

Hmm, buckwheat, I didn't eat it for a few years I think. Perhaps I should keep the old local traditions up and do something like this:

at thursday when there is a holy day.

Edited May 31, 2010 by chattius

[Rotluchs 82]

ah, I see..

I couldn't tell from your first description.. now, clearcut would be the wrong word indeed, I can understand now what you meant..

 

buckwheat is/has been cultivated here in Carinthia too, but most kids didn't like it's taste.. it's very 'special' ..

 

 

but I doubt it's 'general' here, not many people I know would use it like grain for general purpose.. although you can do a lot with it

 

 

I loved it, even to the surprise of my parents

 

it was kinda 'forgotten' in the last few centuries, however now it's a new 'bio' trend here, atm..

 

-------------------------------------------------------

we used to 'mill' (or grind?) the seeds, and make something out of it that would look pretty much like polenta,

prepared in a similar way, just using buckwheat instead of corn..

 

this version is called "Hadnsterz" here in Austria(Carinthia), and it's served as a side dish for example..

 

or even in sweet variations.. if served 'pure' , I used to complement it with some 'white coffee' ..

Edited May 31, 2010 by Rotluchs

[Bondbug 32]

Fern heads - called "têtes de violon" here, because that is what they ressemble. "Fiddleheads" as Chattius calls them.

Two of the many links for these, here and here

 

The first link is from Quebec!

 

Buckwheat, is known here as "sarrasin" or "blé noir". It is used widely in Brittany here for the savoury crepes called "galettes". The odd thing about it is that buckwheat is not a wheat at all. It comes from a plant in the same family as rhubarb and sorrel - believe it or not!

Edited May 31, 2010 by Bondbug

[chattius 2,520]

Sarazenenkorn is a another name here too. So its probably an import from the time of crusades against the saracen. The german name Buchweizen means that it is harvested like wheat (Weizen) but the fruit/corn is more like the one of a beech (Buche). It even tastes a bit like the fruits of beeches, a bit like nut if heated in a pan. My parents said they had to collect this beech-nuts during the war years, They were used to do plant oil.

 

I do not know where Buckwheat is from, perhaps a strange writing of the german Buche?

[Rathmiron 0]

Gosh...didn't know they were toxic

 

I guess stephen king doesn't know that either. in one of his books, a girl gets lost in the woods, and eats raw fiddleheads.

and she didn't die of it or anything

[gogoblender 3,068]

omgod...lol, ...all this from a fiddle head. Chattius and Max...MAN...how do you guys keep coming up with this awesome content... it's like you've lived a whole assembly of lives and now we get to read up on all the goodies you guys have done!

 

Sacha, I just love google. I'm a huge fan of Stephen King...and when you mentionned fiddleheads and stephen king, my fingers went a tipping tapping.

 

Blammo... just like that a few seconds later...:

 

 

Freaky Local Cuisine: Fiddleheads || kuro5hin.org

29 Aug 2003 ... Fiddleheads do not keep well, and taste best when consumed within 3-4 ..... Ever since I read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King, ...

 

Cool!

 

I gotta be honest...when I first tried out these greens I didn't know there was a fungus that came with them. A strange two for one if you ask me And...what's interesting is that at the Metro where I just saw these a few days ago, there was a huge sign hanging down above the fiddleheads with all the information about this fungus that I'd never known about before.

 

I feel happy now that I boiled the heads in spaghetti sauce for what must have been two hours...but what if I hadn't done that...and decided to just eat them raw... the girl didn't know a thing about them....

 

 

gogo