Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the furled fronds from a fledgling fern,[1] 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.[2]
Fiddleheads from brackens contain a compound associated with bracken toxicity, and thiaminase.[3]
The fiddlehead resembles the curled ornamentation (called a scroll) on the end of a stringed instrument, such as a fiddle. It is also called a crozier, after the curved staff used by bishops, which has its origins in the shepherd's crook.
- ^ C.Michael Hogan. 2010. Fern. Encyclopedia of Earth. National council for Science and the Environment Archived November 9, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "'Tis the season...for fiddleheads!". newscentermaine.com. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
- ^ Gomes, Joana; Magalhães, Ana; Michel, Valérie; Amado, Inês F; Aranha, Paulo; Ovesen, Rikke G; Hansen, Hans C B; Gärtner, Fátima; Reis, Celso A; Touati, Eliette (2012). "Pteridium aquilinum and Its Ptaquiloside Toxin Induce DNA Damage Response in Gastric Epithelial Cells, a Link with Gastric Carcinogenesis". Toxicological Sciences. 126 (1): 60–71. doi:10.1093/toxsci/kfr329. PMID 22143989.