by Jayna Smith

Fiddleheads are a springtime delicacy across Maine and New Brunswick, and in the Downeast area, are ready to be harvested.

The ostrich fern fiddleheads can be identified by the brown, papery scale-like covering on the uncoiled fern.  Because they are perennial, they come back year after year, and according to University of Maine Cooperative Extension, nearly all ferns have fiddleheads, but not all fiddleheads are edible.