Extension Experts Available on Fiddleheads, April Gardening

University of Maine Cooperative Extension experts throughout Maine are available to discuss April gardening tips, in addition to information on fiddleheads – from the harvest to cleaning, proper cooking and preserving.

Educator Barbara Murphy, who is based in UMaine Extension’s Oxford County office in South Paris (743-6329), has a new April gardening fact sheet available in the April edition of Maine Home Garden News, and is available to discuss some timely advice on early planting or starting seedlings.

Agricultural and non-timber forest products specialist David Fuller, in the Franklin County UMaine Extension office in Farmington (778-4650), has posted online an information page about Maine’s iconic fiddlehead ferns, which discusses how to identify ostrich fern fiddleheads, harvesting protocols and preparation.

Statewide food safety specialist Jason Bolton based in the Penobscot County office in Bangor (942-7396) is available to discuss safe preparation techniques to avoid food-borne illnesses from fiddleheads, and UMaine food science professor Alfred Bushway is available in Orono (581-1629) to discuss how to eliminate contaminants that may be present where fiddleheads grow.

An online fiddlehead fact sheet offers recipes for serving, canning and pickling fiddleheads.

In Falmouth, Cumberland County-based UMaine Extension educator and food preservation expert Kathy Savoie (780-4205) can also discuss fiddleheads.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756