Fiddlehead fern

Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable.

Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new frond (circinate vernation). As fiddleheads are harvested early in the season before the frond has opened and reached its full height, they are cut fairly close to the ground.

Fiddleheads have antioxidant activity, are a source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and are high in iron and fibre. Certain varieties of fiddleheads have been shown to be carcinogenic. (See bracken poisoning)

The fiddlehead resembles the curled ornamentation (called a scroll) on the end of a stringed instrument, such as a violin. It is also called a crozier, after the curved staff used by bishops, which has its origins in the shepherd's crook.

Varieties

The fiddleheads of certain ferns are eaten as a cooked leaf vegetable. The most popular of these are:

The Fiddlehead

The Fiddlehead is a Canadian literary magazine, published four times annually at the University of New Brunswick.

History and profile

The Fiddlehead was established in 1945 by Alfred Bailey as an in-house publication for the Bliss Carman Poetry Society; it was converted into a general literary magazine in 1952. Other prominent contributors in the magazine's early years included Elizabeth Brewster, Fred Cogswell and Desmond Pacey.

The Fiddlehead's current editor is Ross Leckie; contributing editors include Bill Gaston, Janice Kulyk Keefer, Don McKay and Jan Zwicky.

See also

References

External links