Fabulous fiddleheads

Spring is fleeting, and so is fiddlehead fern season. These tasty treats are the curled baby heads of the ostrich fern, and they grow wild in Minnesota, New England and Canada.

Some say they taste like asparagus, but to my taste buds, their flavor is more delicate, like spring itself. Plus their shape and texture is amazing, turning any spring salad or stir fry into a gorgeous gourmet delicacy.

I first ate fiddleheads only a couple of years ago, and now, come May, I start to crave them with a vengeance.

Fiddlehead ferns appear fleetingly on the menus of some local restaurants, but if you want to cook them at home, they're hard to find. This year, I tried the Farmer's Market and Kowalski's without success, but finally found some at Byerly's.

I put them in an omelette, along with some mushrooms, and they were wonderful! But at $7.99 a package, they're definitely not cheap.

I'd love to try growing fiddlehead ferns them at home. My yard is not naturally wet and wooded, the kind of environment ostrich ferns are supposed to like, so this may be an exercise in futility.

Anyone out there tried growing fiddlehead ferns? Or lucky enough to have them growing wild?