Among the many harvestable wild foods on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, fiddlehead ferns are revered for their nutritional value and taste. Before fern fronds have unfurled, they peek out from the previous fall’s decay in tight coils to greet the coming of spring. This short period is when the harvest takes place, and 20 or so participants in the June 1 Finding Fiddleheads Ethnobotany Walk in Bethel showed up just in time to catch them.
Sharmin Shompa and Aiden Keller were both rewarded for showing up on the cold and drizzly Thursday evening. Shompa said that she was able to gather about 100 fiddleheads in an hour, while Keller had brought a larger container and estimated his take to be about 200 fiddleheads.
“[I] didn’t know anything about ‘em until they posted on Facebook. No one’s ever brought it up; I’ve never seen it posted anywhere,” Keller said. “People sell the berries online, people put the fish online, things like that. Whale, seal, furs, never seen fiddleheads online.”
Bethel Community Services Foundation Food Security Coordinator Carey Atchak led the event, which was hosted by the Kuskokwim Consortium Library. She met the group of foragers at a wooded stretch of land along BIA Road.
“I like picking the ones that are close to the ground and they look just like that,” Atchak said as she swept aside a layer of dead leaves to reveal a cluster of recently emerged fiddleheads.
While unsafe to eat raw, fiddleheads are a delicacy boiled, sautéed, roasted, braised, or even deep-fried. If you’re a fan of asparagus, artichoke, and string beans, you’re in luck because the fiddleheads have been compared to all three. They can be tossed into pasta and salads, placed atop pizzas, or on the Y-K Delta, mixed into whipped fat as traditional akutaq.
Just as soon as the attendees had identified the plant, they split off in different directions, trudging through thick stands of alders and willows in search of the fiddleheads. Participant Margaret Herron met back up with Atchak after an hour’s worth of foraging.
“There you are. Oh man you gathered lots over there,” Herron said. “I almost chickened out, but I’m glad I didn’t.”
It is recommended to only harvest fiddleheads from plants with healthy numbers and to leave at least half of the fiddleheads on each plant crown undisturbed to ensure sustainability.
