The bracken ferns are coming up everywhere! All throughout the forest … all around my garden … and all throughout my front flowerbed!
Here is a view of bracken coming up at the far edge of my backyard, along the top edge of the ravine. On the left side of the photo is a common sword fern … and on the right are bracken ferns. Notice how the bracken ferns grow up off the ground on tall spindly stems.
Here is another view of the bracken on their tall spindly stems. They grow about waist-high. And when they are all growing together, they form a sort of “mat” of foliage suspended up off the ground. This provides shade and shelter for smaller forest creatures underneath.
Here is a view standing back, and as you can see, they form a “mat” (of sorts) … you would never know these are individual ferns suspended about waist-high in the air on tall spindly stems.
A few years ago I was looking up “bracken ferns” on Google and I discovered that they are actually edible. Who knew! I certainly didn’t know! The native peoples of the Pacific Northwest used to eat bracken ferns as part of their diet.
Oh that’s cool! I would like to eat bracken ferns to see what they taste like.
But “Google” informed me – the fully unfurled fern-frond is toxic. According to Google: “Bracken contains ptaquiloside, a known carcinogen, and thiaminase, which can reduce vitamin B1.” Or in other words … don’t eat the fully unfurled fern frond!
Oh, that’s sobering. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to try eating bracken ferns after all.
So I gave up on the idea of trying to eat bracken ferns. That was two years ago.
This spring rolls around and all the bracken ferns are poking up from the ground everywhere. It comes to mind that bracken is edible. My curiosity is piqued. Is it really all that harmful to eat bracken?? What if I am very careful about the preparation procedure?
I renew my Google search about eating bracken ferns. Google informs me: “Bracken fern is edible, particularly its young fiddleheads, but it must be carefully prepared due to potential toxins.”
See! It is edible! I can totally try eating bracken ferns. I’ll just be super careful about the preparation methods.
Google continues: “Bracken fiddleheads have a flavor reminiscent of asparagus and almonds.”
Oooooo! How I would love to see what that tastes like!
Google further lets me know: “Fiddleheads are a delicacy in East Asia, particularly in Korea and Japan.”
See! People from Korea and Japan are super smart! And they are foodies! If they eat fiddleheads, then I totally can too!
What are these preparation instructions which I need to be super careful about following?
“Soaking: Soak the cleaned fiddleheads in cool water overnight to reduce bitterness and remove toxins. Change the water periodically during soaking.” (this was from a website – biologyinsights.com)
Oh, that’s rather sobering. Soaking is vital to removing the toxins. Do I really want to be eating something which is clearly known to have toxins?? And these precautions are from a biology website. Biology people are super smart. Should I really be doing this??
The preparation instructions from the super-smart biology website continued:
“Boiling: Bring a large pot of salted water to a full rolling boil. Add soaked fiddleheads and boil for at least 20 minutes. This step is crucial for detoxification.”
Oh dear! I am not at all sure I should be doing this.
The super-smart biology website continued:
“After boiling, drain the water, rinse the fiddleheads, and repeat the boiling process with fresh water one or two more times for about 5-10 minutes each. Multiple water changes are recommended to maximize compound removal. The bracken should become tender yet retain some crispness, similar to asparagus.”
“Sauteing: After boiling, you can sauté the fiddleheads in butter or oil for 4-5 minutes until they are tender yet crisp. Season with salt and pepper to taste.”
Ok … that got me right there. That just sounds so delicious! Maybe I want to try it after all.
I can be super careful … and follow every instruction … and boil the fiddleheads lots of times!
Oh how I would really like to see what bracken fiddleheads taste like!
My conscience told me: “No.” So I kept searching on Google to find evidence to convince my conscience to change its mind.
I came across a website of a lady who forages and writes blogs. She wrote a lovely blog all about foraging for bracken ferns with her two small children. She had lovely photos of her two small children looking for bracken ferns. She had a lovely photo of her freshly harvested and cleaned bracken fiddleheads ready for the pot of boiling water.
She didn’t mention anything about the soaking period. She didn’t mention anything about changing the water and boiling multiple times. She only boiled her fiddleheads for 20 minutes then sautéed them.
She had a lovely photo of her deliciously prepared bracken fiddleheads.
Ooooooo! Those look so delicious. I want to see what bracken tastes like.
If she can do it then I can too!
My conscience told me: “No!” So, I kept searching on Google to find more evidence to convince my conscience to change its mind.
I came across a science website which explained in detail all the gastric cancers and health complications of animals which feed heavily on bracken ferns. The super-smart science website further explained how the carcinogenic toxins in bracken work at a molecular level in the body and there aren’t any obvious outward indicators of concern. The cultures around the world where bracken is consumed without adverse effects usually only eat bracken occasionally as a treat … such as early spring when it first comes up.
Upon reading this super-smart science website I conceded to my conscience. Ok, ok. I won’t try eating bracken fern.
But, I argued with my conscience, the super-smart website did say that the cultures which eat bracken only have it occasionally as a treat … and occasionally didn’t seem to cause any bad health problems.
My conscience responded: Just because you can, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should.
I am not like the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest who ate bracken fern as part of their diet. They didn’t have much else to eat (besides salmon). So they ate what was available to them.
Myself, on the other hand … I have an entire grocery store full of good, safe food which I can eat.
There is no reason I need to be experimenting with a known toxic food source just to see what it tastes like. That’s foolishness!
Just because we can, that doesn’t necessarily mean we should.
There are a lot of things in life which we can do. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we should.
When it comes to the Bible, there are a lot of things which the Bible doesn’t necessarily forbid. The Bible doesn’t mention these things at all.
At the same time, there are things which the Bible very clearly forbids! These things are toxic to our soul. These things are toxic to our relationship with God! These things will bring “death” (so to speak) into our life if we “eat” them.
For example: God tells us – Do not steal! Don’t do it! This is toxic behavior! Taking something which does not belong to us is toxic to our soul. It is toxic to our relationship with God.
God tells us – Do not lie! Don’t do it! This is toxic behavior! Telling falsehoods and being untruthful is toxic to our soul. It is toxic to our relationship with God.
God tells us – Do not murder! Don’t do it! This is toxic behavior! It is toxic to our soul. It is toxic to our relationship with God.
God tells us – Do not have any sexual relations at all outside the covenant of marriage between a husband and a wife. Don’t do it! This is toxic behavior! To do so is toxic to our soul. It is toxic to our relationship with God.
God tells us – Do not covet and longingly wish for the things others around us have. Don’t do it! This is toxic behavior! It is toxic to our soul. It is toxic to our relationship with God.
But there are a lot of things we face in life which the Bible doesn’t mention anything at all about.
What do we do then??
These types of things in life are like eating bracken fern. Yes – I can eat bracken fern. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I should.
Some people (like the lady who forages with her two small children and writes blog posts about it) are perfectly fine eating bracken ferns.
But for me personally – my conscience has told me “No!” Over and over again … my conscience repeatedly keeps telling me: “No!” Don’t even try it. Just because you can that doesn’t necessarily mean you should.
When it comes to each of our own lives, and we face something which we are unsure about … if the Bible doesn’t have anything specifically to say about it and we don’t know what to do, we must follow our conscience. The Holy Spirit will instruct and guide us through our conscience.
And sometimes the Holy Spirit – through our conscience – will tell us: “No!”
Even if everyone else is doing it. The Holy Spirit – through our conscience – will still tell us: “No!”
And that’s ok. It’s perfectly fine to listen to our conscience and not do it – even if everyone else is.
Just because we can, that doesn’t necessarily mean we should.
