Here in Alberta they're relatively scarce but can be found in pockets. I've been lucky in finding a couple of good patches locally.
They can be found near rivers and streams and on flood plains. Around here I've had the best luck looking for them on south facing, open slopes next to streams and along the stream banks.
Below is a picture of my favourite fiddlehead patch.
According to Agriculture Canada ostrich fern fiddleheads are rich in antioxidants and contain vitamins A and C, niacin, potassium, phosphorous, iron, and magnesium. Fiddleheads are also high in Omega-3 fatty acids as well as an excellent source of dietary fiber.
Bracken fern fiddleheads contain a carcinogen and have been linked to stomach cancer but ostrich ferns do not contain any carcinogen.
They are sold in many grocery stores here in Canada in the spring. I prefer to pick my own. They're expensive to buy as they're not grown commercially but are picked from wild sources.
My wife and I took a trip on Sunday out to our favourite patch. We were almost too late this year. Normally in this area they're ready the second week in June but this year they were ready to pick a couple of weeks early. In the east and in British Columbia, depending on the latitude, they can be ready anywhere from the end of April to the end of May.
Most of them, by the time we got a chance to get out and pick looked like the ones in the following photo. It seems that once they start growing you only have about a weeks’ window of opportunity. Especially true if it's sunny and warm.
However, we did get about ten pounds of prime fiddleheads after an hour and a half of picking. We could have gotten more but we have some left over from last year anyhow.
I don't pick any taller ones than these. They get bitter as they grow.
The rule of thumb is nothing over four inches in height, tightly curled with the head no bigger than an inch in diameter.
Some fiddlehead picking tools.
We have a lot of bears around here. Both black and grizzly so my wife makes me take some bear protection along.
Truth be told I hadn't seen a bear while fiddlehead picking until this year.
We hiked the half mile back to the road after we were done and as I was putting everything into the truck I happened to glance back down the road and there were two black bears eating dandelions about 100 yards away.
I said to my wife, "Hey, there are a couple of bears down the road!"
She thought I was pulling her leg until she took a look.
Anyhow they pretty much ignored us until I started the truck up then they beat feet outta there.
Okay, back to fiddleheads.
After we get them home we wash the fiddleheads in two changes of cold water to get rid of any debris, bugs and bitterness.
Then they're blanched in boiling water, weighed into one-pound portions and put into freezer bags and frozen.
They'll last a year or more in the freezer no problem. I've kept them for over 2years when vacuum-sealed.
The following pictures are from last years harvest.
I was born in New Brunswick and have been eating fiddleheads my whole life. We moved to British Columbia when I was very young and the area we lived in had some great areas for fiddleheads. I remember as a kid we used to pick them by the pillowcase full.
My wife (she hails from Saskatchewan) had never seen a fiddlehead until she met me. She loves them and so does our daughter.
They have a very mild taste, somewhat like a cross between asparagus and spinach. They're wonderful as a side dish, boiled, with lots of butter on 'em.