Wild ostrich-fern fiddleheads, foraged from the banks of the Winooski and along Lake Champlain in late April through May, blanched then sauteed in Vermont butter with lemon, salt and garlic.

Fiddleheads are the tightly curled shoots of the ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), one of the few wild ferns safe to eat. They are foraged from late April to late May in Vermont, often on commercial scale by the Abenaki community and by independent foragers selling to Burlington restaurants and the Burlington Farmers Market. The dish is the Vermont equivalent of asparagus season: a 3 to 4 week window when fiddleheads appear on farm-to-table menus across the city. Hen of the Wood, Misery Loves Co. and Honey Road put them on the spring menu; the canonical preparation is the simplest. They must always be cooked, never raw.

4 editor picks for Vermont Fiddleheads in Burlington, ranked by editorial score. All Burlington signature dishes · Vermont Fiddleheads across every city.