By the summer, many tend to eat light food rich in vitamins. Lovers of greenery may like fern - a forest grass, which is not inferior in useful properties to sorrel and wild garlic.
How to collect ferns
When heading into the forest for ferns, forget about bushes with feathery green leaves. The forest fern - bracken - is considered suitable for human consumption. It is easy to distinguish it from other varieties: the tops of the leaves of the edible fern are twisted into snails.
The most useful are young shoots no more than 20 cm from the ground, the color of fresh foliage. The leaves at the base should come off easily and crunch when broken.
How to cook a fern
It is not recommended to immediately send the fern to the pan: the grass will taste bitter. Rinse the shoots with cool water, put them in a basin and cover with salt. Press down on top with a load. Leave in a cool place until juicing appears.
Transfer the herb to a glass dish and cover with the resulting brine. In this form, the fern can be stored for no more than 5 days. To increase the shelf life up to three years (salting), the salt concentration in the container must be at least 25%. Before each cooking, the fern must be soaked in cold water for 10-12 hours, changing the water every 2-3 hours.
Fern salads are the most popular. Take the required number of bunches and cut into sticks, separating the inflorescences and stems. Boil the stems in boiling water over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add inflorescences and cook together for another 2-3 minutes.
Place the fern in a colander to cool and take over the rest of the ingredients. This can be sliced chicken or lean beef. Use olive oil or vegetable oil as a dressing.
Fern is also good in Korean salad. Add carrots, cut into thin strips and stewed with onions, to the boiled stalks, top with soy sauce and lightly pepper with red pepper.
For a salad with mayonnaise, fern, boiled rice (half a glass) and homemade pickled cucumbers are suitable. You can make a diet fern soup: boil chicken broth (600-800 ml), remove the chicken and add the fried fern, onion and carrot. After boiling again, add a small handful of oatmeal and cook until soft. Garnish the finished soup with fresh herbs (dill, parsley) and croutons.
