Fiddleheads soup in December?

Last spring, my girlfriend and I picked a ton of fiddleheads in the forests surrounding Ottawa. Of course, we left enough of them on each plant to make sure the plant would not suffer too much from our harvest. Even then, probably because of the great excitement caused such an abundance of fresh greens after a long winter, we collected them in such huge amounts and that we had to freeze a few large bags. In fact, we collected so much of them that they still clog the freezer. We are using them once in a while, in fried rice for instance, but there is now a need to use them up before they degrade too much (yes, things do loose taste and texture in the freezer).

I made this soup out of one of our big bags the other day. I simply cooked them in water, pureed them with the cooking water, and strained the puree to remove the fibrous parts. I then seasoned the soup and tasted. Let’s say politely that it was not very good. I wondered for a long time why I had so much trouble eating this vegetable that my girlfriend love so much. While experimenting with my soup in order to make it better, I discovered that a little bit of acidity tremendously helps me appreciate this vegetable better. A touch of balsamic vinegar, sour cream and tomatoes were then added to the soup making it much better. It was still not a tremendous success, there are much better soups to be made, but I now know how adding a little bit of acid greatly improve this vegetable that I otherwise tend to find a bit, well… weird.

That’s one thing to remember for the next spring!