Ingredients

• General & History -
• Varieties -
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While Ferns have been with us forever and are common in many areas, they have played a very minor role as food for humans or livestock, particularly due to toxicity, the fern's first line of defense against being eaten. The varieties identified as "edible" are still toxic, but in the small amounts we are likely to eat them they don't pose significant risk to most individuals.

Unfortunately some ferns are major pests, particularly the Old World Climbing Fern (Lygodium microphyllum) which is currently strangling large areas of the Everglades in Florida and the aquatic fern Giant Salvinia (Salvinia molesta) which is covering entire lakes in Hawaii and elsewhere. We cannot be too bitter about aquatic ferns since they may have been a major factor in reversing a previous global warming episode by covering all the lakes formed by melting ice caps and absorbing carbon dioxide.

Bracken Fern - [Brake Fern, Fernbrake, Warabi (jp), Pteridium aquilinum]
A common fern in temperate climates, immature Bracken fronds are eaten as a vegetable in many parts of the world and particularly in Korea, Japan and parts of China. Native Americans dug up, cooked and ate the rhizomes from which the fronds sprout and these are also used in Japan and elsewhere as a starch source.

Pictured are water packed and dried examples from a local Korean grocery. The dry takes a long soak or simmer and provides an interesting but somewhat bitter flavor, so use the water packed unless the recipe calls for dry.
Recipes: Beef & Fern Soup.

Bracken Fern is toxic to livestock when a significant part of their diet. For humans it should be cooked (simmered 10 minutes) and eaten in moderation. One of the toxins is a thiamine inhibitor that can cause a vitamin deficiency if consumed for an extended period. Bracken also contains a substance identified as a carcinogen and has been placed in the same risk category as Coffee and Sassafras by the American Cancer Society. Study is ongoing but still inconclusive, demographis do not indicate a notable danger.

Ostrich Fern - [Matteuccia struthiopteris]
This fern, common in the northern U.S and Canada and northern and eastern Europe provides the "fiddleheads" sold in commerce. They have a flavor somewhat similar to asparagus and are a little crunchy if not over cooked. They are popular in season (Spring) where the ferns grow but are just a $10 per pound curiosity in Southern California.

Ostrich Fern is considered safe, or about as safe as ferns get. Some people have shown sensitivity to unidentified toxins in them, but most reported incidents of toxicity are from mistaking some other fern for Ostrich Fern. Simmering Ostritch fiddleheads for 10 minutes is said to make them safe for people sensitive to them. Ostrich Ferns are reported to be free of the carcinogens and thiamine inhibitors of the Braken Fern.

Buying, Storing & Cooking Fiddleheads should be 1" to 1-1/2" diameter with no more than 2 inches of stem projecting from them. They should be crisp, not limp. Refrigerated they will keep up to 10 days but lose flavor rapidly.. Rub off the brown chaff and trim the end of the stem before cooking.
Recipe: Fiddleheads.

Other Ferns
Other than the ferns identified here as edible, all others should be considered toxic (the edible ones are already toxic enough). In particular Cinnamon Fern and Interrupted Fern are often mistaken for Ostrich Fern resulting in illness. Lady Fern is said to be edible cooked but rather bitter compared to Ostrich Fern.