Today is Maine Maple Sunday. This means more than 70 maple producers, big and small from all over the state, have folks visiting who pay for an outside breakfast with pancakes and maple syrup. Some also have sausage, beans, juice, coffee etc. Some also have maple ice cream and maple butter, candies. Most have free samples and boiling demonstrations and all want to sell their syrup. Folks can walk around to see the buckets on the trees, watch a boiling demonstration at the sugar house and sample the syrup. Yes, you eat outside at long wooden tables and benches. If you are lucky it may be outside in a tent or shelter but not often. And yes, there are long lines of folks just waiting for their turn. Don't you wish you were here in Maine this morning?
Tags: Maine Maple Sunday
Thanks to Openeyes we have a nice article on fiddleheads. FMI go to: halifax herald.ca search for fiddleheads.
Fiddleheads pop up for spring
Edible ferns now grow in Ontario, thanks to fertile vision of East Coast entrepreneur
By KIM HONEY Toronto Star
Sat. May 31 - 5:34 AM continued
bluebird
Tags: Fiddleheads
Ok, for the inquiring minds who want to know:
Fiddleheads are the young coiled fern leaves (about an inch in diameter) of the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris). Nearly all ferns have fiddleheads, but those of the ostrich fern are unlike any other.
Fiddleheads are a Maine delicacy that appears in the early spring during April and May. Harvest the tender little rolls of fern almost as soon as they appear within an inch or two of the ground. Carefully brush out and remove the brown scales. Wash and cook the “heads” in a small amount of lightly salted boiling water for ten minutes, or steam for 20 minutes. Serve at once with melted butter. The quicker they are eaten, the more delicate their flavor. They may be served, like asparagus, on toast. Cooked, chilled fiddleheads can be also served as a salad with an onion and vinegar dressing.
A spring favorite: fresh wild salmon and fiddleheads or a nice fresh wild salmon and fiddlehead pie.
And there you have it.
Tags: Fiddleheads
