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NE USA: spring foods to look for

Discussion in 'Indians in New York' started by tashidelek2002, Apr 12, 2009.

  1. tashidelek2002

    tashidelek2002 IL Hall of Fame

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    Hi ladies
    Its (finally) Spring in the NE. Today is Easter when ladies and kids wear their first spring clothes to church (too bad we are having a cold snap...the little girls are going to be so cold!!!!).

    Its time to be on the lookout for food items only available in the spring:

    Hannaford which is a store based in Maine carries in the spring fiddleheads. These are the shoots of ferns that are edible in their immature state. You boil them in salted water just until tender...very delicious. I would try them with a minimum of spice before deciding on further cooking...they have a delicious delicate flavor.

    The dandelions are coming up in teh yards. Those homeowners can do their spring weeding and get dinner. Save the leaves of the dandelions which can be cooked. Go for a full masala on this: they will be in the bitter variety of foods such as methi but not as much as kerela. They are very healthful. (Many markets carry these also.)

    The rhubarb is coming up in home gardens (also carried in markets). This is eaten as a fruit but is actually a vegetable...very very very sour and has to be cooked with a lot of sugar. From what I have read, it was originally a medicinal plant of Tibet, migrating across Europe and brought to the USA by early settlers. It is very very high in Vit C, is an excellent tonic for the whole body. It is used cooked simply with water and sugar to taste, made into pies, cobblers, jelly, and at my house wine.

    Those with home gardens: parsnips can be planted the year before and then left in the ground over the winter to be dug in the spring. The flavor is thusly improved. Parsnips are a fav of mine and can be eaten boiled like potato but I also use them instead of potatoes in veg cutlets. :drool

    Happy eating!
     
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  2. mom2gurls

    mom2gurls New IL'ite

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    I love hannafords!!! there food is the best!
     
  3. tashidelek2002

    tashidelek2002 IL Hall of Fame

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    I made dandelion greens tonight from plants I weeded from my landscaping. I cooked them in a southern recipe with bacon, salad vinegar, little sugar, nutmeg, black pepper and green onions. The greens are very tender and only need to cooked for several minutes until they wilt. Use a recipe that would normally use methi.

    In the spring the plants are everywhere. They are easily spotted by their yellow flowers that mature to white fuzzy balls just before the seeds release on the wind. You can pick them until early summer but later than that the plants are perhaps too bitter for normal consumption. They will though be safe to eat. Be sure to only pick safe plants that have not been treated with pesticides or fertilizers.

    A write up on the fantastic health benefits of dandelions can be read here:
    http://www.leaflady.org/health_benefits_of_dandelions.htm

    The first pic is a typical young plant that I shot in the wood mulch so you can easily see it. The second is the cleaned leaves ready for cooking. The third is my dinner eaten with left over cornbread from a dinner I had with friends last night.
     

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    Last edited: Apr 22, 2009
  4. tashidelek2002

    tashidelek2002 IL Hall of Fame

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    Well the fiddleheads are in at Hannafords (Hannafords is a Maine based company). They are usually only available for a couple weeks each year so if you are brave in trying new veg, give it a go. They are the young sprouts of a fern that is in Maine and New Hampshire and it harvested wild in the forest. The taste is similar to asparagus. The fiddleheads should be boiled in salted water for ten minutes or steamed for 20 min. They can also be pickled. The name fiddlehead is because the curled fern resembled the scrolled woodwork on the end of a violin (fiddle).
     

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  5. auserid8

    auserid8 Senior IL'ite

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    A few days back I saw this vegetable in Shop and Stop, but didnt go ahead to buy it as I didnt know how to cook it and how to make it.. please post some recipe if someone knows...
     
  6. tashidelek2002

    tashidelek2002 IL Hall of Fame

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    The fiddleheads will only be available for 2-3 weeks so please hurry to try. You will get ones that look fresh and curled. Wash them, trim off the end, pull off is there is any brown papery part. You will put them in slighty salted water and just boil for 5-10 mins until tender. It will taste like asparagus. If you don't like it plain, start with a little chaat masala or you can have it cold with salad dressing. You can also put it in a vinegar based pickling solution and keep like that. You know how little spice Americans use for veg and this is quite a rare vegetable so there very few recipes for it. Here is a link for some recipes. The pickled ones need to be home canned.

    http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/4198.htm
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2009
  7. BeeAmma

    BeeAmma Silver IL'ite

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    How unique tashi. heard of fiddleheads for the first time.
     
  8. realdeal

    realdeal New IL'ite

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    These fern heads are available in north India too. They are called jungle jalaebi because of their shape. Even my mother has eaten this as a child and she is 76 yrs old.
     
  9. tashidelek2002

    tashidelek2002 IL Hall of Fame

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    Realdeal:
    It would be interesting to know if the species are the same or different. Do you know how they are prepared in India?
    Tina
     

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