Fiddlehead Pickles

It's something that happens in Maine this time of year.  People around here go out looking for ostrich ferns, otherwise known as fiddleheads, in the woods, at the edge of the river, typical places you'd find ferns.  These look a little different than your average fern because they form a thin crusty layer on their sides, which you peel off before you consume them.  They are picked when they're  not yet a full-grown fern.  They're all curled up, ready to unfold, about 5 or 6 inches tall, and you snap them right off their helpless stalks.  Done.  Eat 'em up just for a few weeks in the spring.  Some of my family members fry them with butter and bacon, but Joe and Addie prefer to just eat them cold and raw.  You might steam them and eat them with a little vinegar too.  I hadn't thought to go looking for any of the goodies in the woods, though I probably would have had some luck finding them here.  Instead I happened upon them at the local supermarket while I stood there annoyed that I couldn't find a decent looking string bean in the place.  I'm not sure what I was thinking anyway-- string beans in May?  No.  Fiddleheads?  Yes.  So I bought them right there on the spot, then came home and turned them into Dilly Fiddles.  But you can call them Fiddlehead Pickles (of the dill sort) if you want to be all proper about it.