The Maine fiddlehead
and local food festival is something that started
about three years ago. And now we're in the third year in 2014.
The thought was to celebrate local foods including the fiddlehead
which is found in the Sandy River Valley here in Maine.
It's a collaboration between University Maine Farmington
University of Maine Cooperative Extension,
local citizens who are really into local food
and it's been a great thing. It takes place on the campus of
University of Maine in Farmington. It features a farmers market,
talks, demonstration talks on topics like
how to identify and cook fiddleheads how to make and bake bread
and other local food interest items. I'll be doing a fiddlehead talk and then we'll
actually go out into
the habitat where fiddleheads grow so I can teach people
about how sustainably harvest and identify
and first and foremost to emphasize getting landowner permission to harvest
fiddleheads. So fiddleheads is part of Yankee and
French culture. It's very very popular in the Maritimes,
New Brunswick in particular but also very popular in Maine
and people have been picking them for generations and that's why we're
concerned that people pick sustainably so that we can continue to pick
so our kids and grandkids can keep picking.
Most of us grew up here in Maine eating fiddleheads as probably
the wild fern and
fiddlehead hunting is a lot like trout fishing.
Everyone has their secret spot along some stream or river where they go
the year and they get fiddleheads. It's very important if you want to continue
your ferns is to
harvest half
so it will continue to grow and to expand.
Fiddleheads have become extremely iconic.
Everywhere in Maine, everybody has a fiddlehead story.
I really like fiddleheads boiled
with some lemon and
salt and pepper. Generally, I like to steam them up, pretty tasty. I enjoy it you know.
A little bit of butter and a little bit of vinegar. Basically
boiled. I would have to say butter and white wine is the best way to have fiddleheads.
Yeah, just really gently simmered in them and it's delicious.
In the ravioli! We have fiddlehead ravioli
with a great ricotta cheese from
Sandy River Farm, and that's my favorite. It's really good.