When to collect ferns for food in 2020 and in which regions

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

Fern picking season for food has begun in 2020. To start harvesting it, you need a little information about when to collect wild plants, in which regions it grows, where it likes to grow and find out the exact dates of collection.

When to harvest ferns for food in 2020

Fern harvesting usually occurs in mid-May and lasts up to 4 weeks. Young shoots of edible fern can be a base ingredient in many recipes, both simple and sophisticated dishes.

Due to the projected cold May 2020, fern harvesting will shift slightly. It is expected to last until June 10, later the plant will become overripe and not suitable for harvesting and harvesting.

The reason lies in the ripening time of young rachis shoots, which are filled with juice before the young leaves bloom. After the leaves appear, the fern will acquire a bitter taste, and even the best housewife will not be able to remove this bitterness.

If the young sprouts break off easily, making a crunchy sound, then the fern collection is taking place at the right time. If the leaves have time to turn around slightly, the fern is no longer plucked. Young shoots taste very similar to spring vegetables.

Wild plants bloom unevenly, depending on conditions: soil, surrounding trees and the presence of the sun. If the deadline for picking a plant in one place is missed, it can be found in another area of the forest or ravine.

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Fern shoots contain tannins, essential oils, flavonoids, and are abundant in protein. They have a lot of useful acids, vitamins E and B2.

Such a plant has a valuable chemical composition, it is saturated with iodine, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur, calcium, alkaloids, even the enzyme thiaminase, due to which the fern has a number of biologically active properties.

When eaten, the plant stimulates the digestive tract and regulates metabolism well, relieves stress. Fern is used in the treatment of leukemia.

Decoctions of shoots and roots of the plant are used to reduce fever and relieve stomach pain, rheumatism and other ailments. Decoction lotions help heal wounds, eczema, hemorrhoids.

In which regions does wild plant grow

Fern is the oldest spore plant, which has more than 10,000 species and is considered the same age as dinosaurs. Only two species are considered edible and used for food. This is a bracken and an ordinary ostrich. The homeland of wild plants is considered to be Korea and some European countries, as well as Russia and Ukraine.

Plants suitable for the table grow in central Russia, in the Moscow region, in the Urals, in Siberia and in the Far East. The edible bracken fern reaches a height of 1.5 meters, and on the mountain slopes and in the mountains it grows up to 3 meters.

During the fern harvesting season, residents of Siberia and the Far East successfully sell it to Japan and add young stems to their menu. In the Far East, the fern harvesting season usually coincides with the massive flowering of lilies of the valley, bird cherry and lilacs. This fact should be used as a guideline for the start of the season.

When to collect ferns for food in 2020 in the Moscow region? Shoots appear at the time of bud formation on lilies of the valley, but not during flowering. During this period, the bracken fully unfolds and becomes unsuitable for collection. The peak of the season for harvesting rachis is when the plant reaches its maximum height (20 cm).

Fern collection by region:

• Primorsky Territory - from mid-May to early June;
• Moscow region - from mid-May to early June;
• Ural - from mid-May to early June;
• Far East - from May 10, within 20-25 days;
• Amur Region - from the second half of May to mid-June.

Around May 18, the eagle harvesting season in the Primorsky Territory will begin, it will last four weeks. Wild plants grow in all districts of the region, most of all in Shkotovo, Khankaiskiy. The plant is harvested in Kamchatka, where people are deficient in spring vegetables.

Residents of the Amur Region, Primorsky Territory know very well when to collect ferns for food in 2020, because, by tradition, they are engaged in such harvesting every year. In some regions of Russia, the fern is considered a weed plant, in others it is included in the list of rare and listed in the Red Book.

In the Amur Territory, during the period when it is possible to collect ferns for food in 2020, commercial harvesting of the plant is being carried out. The southern and central regions of the region have long been engaged in harvesting fern shoots.

In the Blagoveshchensk region, the season when you can pick ferns for food usually begins on May 15 and lasts about two weeks. There are many fern meadows behind Mokhovaya Pad, Snezhinka and Belogorie. In these places there are hills, on the slopes of which and in the hollows there is always a huge number of fern stalks. In this form, a dry bracken can be stored for several years.

The edible fern is found in mixed and coniferous forests. He prefers light depleted soils and hills.

The plant is harvested at the beginning of the season on slopes open to the sun, later in birch forests, hollows and burnt forests. At the very end of the season - in dark places: aspen forests, forest plantations, gullies and ravines.

How to prepare and use rachis in 2020: recipes

Young fern shoots can be dried, salted, fried, as is done in Japan, pickled, added to salads after the necessary processing. Fern stalks can be sprinkled with salt, placed in bags and stored in the freezer.

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How fern is dried

To dry the fern, you first need to boil the shoots in salted water for 10 minutes, discard in a colander, and then spread on a clean cloth in a thin layer and keep until dry. Turn over the laid out layers every 5 hours.

It will take about 3 days to dry completely. Transfer the dry fern to a cloth bag and hang in a dry, ventilated place.

In its raw form, bracken is not consumed because of its poisonous properties, causing poisoning like mushrooms, up to and including death!

Fresh shoots are suitable for culinary use after pretreatment:

1. Withstand three days in the cold (freezer, cellar).
2. Salt.
3. Pickle.
4. Dry (used in ground form for gravies and sauces).
5. Boil.
6. Soak off.
7. Make a steam bath.

Salting

You can salt the bracken in a wooden barrel:

1. Cover 10 kg of plants with 3 kg of salt and put under pressure.
2. After 2 weeks, drain the brine and add 2 kg of salt, put under pressure until brine appears.
3. After 2 weeks, pour brine with 1 kg of salt.

Paportonic can be used as a side dish or addition to potato, cereal or pasta dishes. After salting, the bracken can be collected in bundles and dried.

Young shoots are canned by corking jars with added salt and spices.

You can salt dry shoots without soaking them in brine. To do this, sprinkle dry bundles with salt and put them under oppression for three days. Then they are wrung out and put into barrels. After three months, the pickles are ready to eat.

Fried bracken

How to cook:

1. Remove bitterness by any known method before use. Salted shoots should be put in water for two or three days in order for excess salt to come out.
2. Boil the shoots in salted water in two passes, 3-4 minutes each. Place in a colander and let the water drain off.
3. Put in a skillet with heated oil for 10-15 minutes.
4. Add pepper, soy sauce, carrots, garlic and coriander. Fry until tender and crispy.

Kamchatka pizza

Ingredients:

• 150 g of rice;
• 170 g sour cream;
• 100 g butter;
• 3 tbsp. flour;
• 350 g of salted bracken;
• 170 g bell pepper;
• 120 g of hard cheese.
• baking powder;
• celery;
• salt;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• black pepper;
• vegetable or olive oil for frying.

Preparation:

1. Put sour cream, salt, butter and baking powder in flour, knead the dough. Put in a cold place for 40 minutes.
2. Put onion and bracken in a skillet, add rice cooked in salted water.
3. Peel and grind the pepper with a mixer.
4. Cook the sauce in a cauldron, add crushed garlic and chopped celery to it.
5. Roll out six oval pancakes, brush them with sauce, lay out the sprout and rice filling. Sprinkle with grated cheese on top, place in the oven.

Fern sprout salad with white fish

Ingredients:

• fern - 100 g;
• fish - 80 g;
• corn (canned) - 70 g;
• egg - 1 pc.;
• softened butter - 1 tsp.

Preparation:

1. Cut the fish boiled in salted water with lemon juice and pepper.
2. Boil the bracken and cut into slices.
3. Let it simmer in a frying pan, add boiled fish and egg.
4. After the egg is almost ready, add the corn to the skillet.
5. Sprinkle the finished dish with roasted nuts or sesame seeds.

Spicy bracken and carrot salad

Ingredients:

• fern shoots - 500 g;
• carrots - 1 pc. medium size;
• garlic - 4 cloves;
• soy sauce - 6 tablespoons l.;
• olive oil - 1 tbsp. l.;
• hot red pepper - 0.5 tsp;
• green onions - 3 branches.

Preparation:

1. Boil fern shoots.
2. Cut the onion into thin strips.
3. Grate the carrots for Korean dishes, salt and remove the juice.
4. Fry the onion in a skillet, add the bracken cut into slices. Cook for 5-10 minutes,
5. Add carrots, chopped garlic and spices.
6. In another skillet, heat the oil, not boiling, cover the fern shoots with hot oil. Season with soy sauce and mix. Place chopped green onions on top.

Summarize

1. In terms of its useful properties, edible fern is not inferior to many vegetables, so people are happy to collect and harvest plant shoots.
2. The fern harvest time is limited to a season of 3-4 weeks, after June 10, the plant overripe and becomes unsuitable for salting.
3. The traditional places of growth of wild plants are considered to be the middle zone of Russia, the Far East, Kamchatka, Moscow region.
4. Fern shoots are valued for their beneficial properties and are used in the preparation of various dishes, replacing the lack of spring vegetables.