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The fiddlehead resembles the curled ornamentation (called a scroll) on the end of a stringed instrument, such as a fiddle. It is also called a crozier, after the curved staff used by shepherds and bishops.

The fiddleheads of certain ferns are eaten as a cooked green. The most popular of these are:

• Bracken, Pteridium aquilinum, found worldwide
• Ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, found in the eastern parts of North America
• Cinnamon fern or buckhorn fern , Osmunda cinnamomea, found in the Eastern parts of North America
• Royal fern , Osmunda regalis, found worldwide
• Zenmai or flowering fern , Osmunda japonica, found in East Asia
• Vegetable fern , Athyrium esculentum, found throughout Asia and Oceania

Some ferns contain carcinogens, and Bracken has been implicated in stomach cancer. Despite this, most people can eat ostrich and cinnamon fern fiddleheads without any problems. In 1994, there were several instances of food poisoning associated with raw or lightly cooked fiddleheads in New York state and Western Canada, no definitive source of the food poisoning was identified, and authorities recommended thorough cooking of fiddlehead ferns to counteract any possible unidentified toxins in the plant.

Many ferns also contain the enzyme thiaminase, which breaks down thiamineThiamine or thiamin also known as vitamin B is a colorless compound with chemical formula. It is soluble in water and insoluble in alcohol. Thiamine decomposes if heated. Thiamine pyrophosphate TPP is a coenzyme for pyruvate dehydrogenase, α-ketoglu, which can lead to beriberiBeriberi is an ailment caused by a deficiency of vitamin B1 ( thiamine), the symptoms of which may include weight loss, emotional disturbances, impaired sensory perception, weakness, and periods of irregular heartbeat. Beriberi occurs in people whose stap and other vitamin B complex deficencies if consumed to excess or if one's diet is lacking in these vitaminVitamins are a class of essential nutrients that cannot be synthesized (either at all or in sufficient quantities) by a given organism and must be taken (in trace quantities) with food for that organism's continued good health. Humans require 13 different.

Fiddleheads have been part of traditional diets in much of AsiaThe continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The boundaries are vague, especially between Asia and Europe: Asia and Africa meet somewhere near the Suez Canal. The boundary between Asia and E, AustraliaAustralia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring count and New ZealandFor alternative meanings, see New Zealand (disambiguation). New Zealand is a country formed of two major islands and a number of smaller islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. A common Mori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa popularly translated as Land, as well as among Native AmericansNative Americans (also Indians Aboriginal Peoples American Indians First Nations Alaskan Natives or Indigenous Peoples of America are the indigenous inhabitants of Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. This term compri for centuries. In JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh, bracken fiddleheads (known locally as わらび or 蕨, warabi) are a prized dish, and roasting the fiddleheads is reputed to neutralize any toxins in the vegetable.