To Market We Go
This blog needs a lighter touch today, so even though I’ll touch on a more controversial subject, too, I’m going to start it off with a quote by Buddha, which I found while searching for information on fiddleheads from a blogger called Fiddlehead. Thanks, Fiddlehead!
“Believe Nothing! No matter where you read it, or who has said it, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason, and your own common sense!”
– Buddha
Fiddle me this. If you could easily eat straight from nature, would you? Foraging, hunting, planting, and harvesting take time, but the growth in local Farmers Markets has made it possible for many to get just a bit closer to nature and also to discover either unheard of or unexperienced delicacies. Take the fiddlehead, for example. I heard of it during my years in Vermont, but I never got to taste one. I thought they were delicacies at fine restaurants. Now, years later, I discovered a quart container of them on sale at the Rutland Farmers Market for just $3. Delicacies are affordable, but will only become delicacies with some cooking practice (more on that at the end).The fiddlehead, whose flavor has been compared to that of asparagus, is actually a baby ostrich fern that pops up in late April and can be found in the wild for about three weeks each spring. It is edible; some ferns are not, so caution should be taken by novices. High in vitamins A and C, and iron and niacin, fiddleheads were not always delicacies – they were a sustaining part of the Native American diet.Fiddleheads are most common in northern regions like in Canada and New England although some have reported an abundance in southeastern Pennsylvania as well. A café in State College, PA, is called Fiddlehead, but not one fiddlehead turns up on their soup and salad menu. The philosophy of the restaurant is to buy local, cut down on waste, and operate green. It seems that fiddlehead represents some sort of environmental utopia. It has a positive connotation.In contrast, GMO represents the exact opposite in people’s minds. While two-thirds of Americans have been found to support GMO labeling, other research has found that the term GMO creates a negative connotation for consumers, even if they often don’t understand what it is or what it means. Many people have seen movies like Food, Inc. or read scary reports about the dangers of GMO. The primary GMO crops are corn and soybeans although zucchini, beats, and papaya are among others. Many of our modern produce favorites are hybrids, which are usually a cross between two parent varieties of a plant compared to a genetically modified crop, which is created in a lab and can involve gene splicing from several species.Unless Congress takes quick action, the tiny state of Vermont will change the state of food labeling beginning July 1, 2016. That’s in just more than a month. In March, Congress failed to pass a voluntary national standard for labeling, which would have preempted Vermont’s law, passed in 2014, that requires all food producers to label foods with GMOs or face stiff fines. Because food companies can’t afford to change labeling for just one state, to comply with Vermont and avoid fines, it will be cheaper for them to change labeling for all states.What does this mean for consumers and producers? It’s complicated and it would take an entire research paper to fully explore the controversies of GMO crops. The Grocery Manufacturers Association is fighting the Vermont law, and giant food corporations stand by the safety of their GM products. The FDA doesn’t require labeling because it stands behind the safety and nutritional quality of GMO products, saying they are no different than conventional crops. Meanwhile, Vermont has sued Dupont and Syngenta Corp. to release the findings of their research into potential health and environmental problems of GM crops. Steven Savage, a Forbes contributor, says labeling laws might lead consumers to avoid GMO products, which might lead producers to make changes in farming practices to meet customer demand. He says this could lead to use of less environmentally friendly farming approaches, including the need to spray for insects, and for companies to turn to cheaper non-GMO products in other countries that have lower standards for pollutants and pesticides banned in the United States. It would also lead to costlier food products, Savage says.Farmers Markets also aren’t cheap. However, if I can afford to shop at them, I will. Buying local seems right in so many ways. It supports local farmers, local economy, doesn’t involve environmentally unfriendly transportation, is often organic, is a social event, helps me to discover new foods, and is safer and more realistic than trying to find delicacies on my own. Much like I’m afraid I’ll pick the poison mushroom and die if I foraged for mushrooms, I also won’t be foraging for my own fiddleheads. Those who forage are usually second or third generation foragers and have had the discerning eye passed down to them from parents and grandparents. It’s a talent that the Peterson Field Guides are not enough to develop.Learning to cook Farmers Market treats, however, can be developed. I brought my fiddlehead bounty home, then did what every good cook does, and Googled how to prepare them. A plethora of recipes popped up, of course led by Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse, so I read four or five and then created my own non-GMO hybrid.
Sautéed Fiddleheads with Brown Rice and Quinoa
Ingredients: 1 quart of freshly picked fiddleheads, butter, olive oil, 1 lemon, jalapeno, brussels sprout, two cloves of garlic, green onion.Process: Begin preparing brown rice/quinoa mixture according to package directions (I used Rice Select Royal Blend with Red Quinoa). Rub your hands over the fiddleheads to remove the paper shell. Then wash them looking carefully for debris or bugs (hey, they’re wild!). Trim the ends. Squeeze lemon into a pot of cold water. Add the fiddleheads and let them soak in the lemon for 10-15 minutes. Boil fresh water. Add fiddleheads and blanch for about five minutes. Pour a few tablespoons of olive oil into a frying pan over medium heat. Add fiddleheads, two cloves of garlic (chopped), three green onions (chopped small), finely chopped half of one jalapeno, and shaved brussels sprout (about a cup). Sautee until mixture begins to brown. Add in one cup of the cooked rice/quinoa. Brown for another five minutes.Serves: 2Eating tip: My daughter and I enjoyed some hot sauce to spice up the creation.
Works Consulted
Associated Press. “Fight Over GMO Label Law Moves to Vermont.” Rutland Herald. Rutland Herald. 14 May 2016. Web. 19 May 2016.Charles, Dan and Allison Aubrey. “How Little Vermont Got Big Food Companies to Label GMOs.” NPR. NPR. 27 March 2016. Web. 19 May 2016.Fiddlehead. “Words of Wisdom from the Trail.” Fiddlehead’s Warm Stuff Travel and Pictures. Blog at WordPress.com. 21 Aug. 2007. Web. 19 May 2016.Mattern, Vicki. “Hybrid Seeds vs. GMOs.” Mother Earth News. Ogden Publications. 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 19 May 2016.McGrory-Klyza, Sheila. “Fiddlehead Season.” Northern Woodlands. Center for Northern Woodlands Education. 24 April 2012. Web. 19 May 2016“Philosophy.” Fiddlehead: A Soup and Salad Café. Fiddlehead. 2016. Web. 19 May 2016.Savage, Steven. “Vermont-Driven GMO Labeling Could Have Troubling Unintended Consequences.” Forbes. Forbes.com. 26 March 2016. Web. 19 May 2016.