fiddleheads

Every spring, a generational delicacy comes to life in Maine, and people outside of the state just don't understand it.

It’s a free outdoor festival this Saturday, May 6 from 10 to 3 p.m. at the north end of the UMF campus.

Ah, yes, those delicious little ferns can be found all over Maine, but only for a very short time. "Fiddleheads are the coiled tips of young ostrich ferns that grow near brooks, rivers and lakes in Maine during late April, May and early June, depending on when the snow has melted," an article on VisitMaine...

It's an acquired taste and it looks like many Mainers love fiddleheads, because they have their own festival! Fiddlehead lovers will want to make the trek to Farmington this Saturday for the 5th Annual Fiddlehead Festival and local food day.

With spring just days away and tourist season not far behind, Maine has plenty to offer with our ocean, lakes, mountains and uniquely Maine foods. I always seem to bring it back to food!

It's one of those food that people either really, really love or loathe, it's the fiddlehead. My parents, especially my Dad loved fiddleheads, as a kid they were a vegetable that looked funny, so I stayed away from them. Now that I am grown up, I still have never eaten a fiddlehead, so Bee Nation, I want your opinion on fiddleheads. Do you love them or loathe them?

The calender says that spring begins March 20, but in Maine, we know that what the calender says and what Mother Nature wants are often two different things. One sign of spring in Maine is the sprouting of wild fiddleheads. Many Mainers enjoy fiddleheads and pick and sell them for additional income.