Bracken fern is globally distributed and globally abundant. It’s found on Drummond Island where it’s abundant as a ground cover just about everywhere. Off trail, you can find yourself wading knee-deep in bracken so thick you cannot see ground.
The abundance and unique taste of bracken fern has made it seasonal table fare for centuries. Traditional foragers eat the tender fiddleheads, new fronds before they unfurl. Others fluster at the suggestion. The plant is consumed traditionally in many counties, but scientists tell us that human populations consuming a lot of bracken fern may be more likely to suffer urinary cancers, stomach cancers, and so on. Forager-writer Hank Shaw looked into bracken consumption risk and reward for The Atlantic. Bottom line, Hank finds that typical preparation of cooked bracken fern fiddleheads will denature the carcinogenic compound produced by the plant.
