In the spring, people gather kosari from the mountains. At that time it’s green. Then they blanch and cook it. When they dry the kosari, its gets brown and becomes thinner like thread. If you buy dried kosari, you will have to boil and soak it until it’s soft before cooking.
Fresh kosari (green) or dried and soaked kosari (brown) can be used for yuk gae jang or bibimbap.
Boiled fernbrake:
hey there =)
if i bought the boiled kosari, the purpleish one (like the one on the last pic), can i still use it for making yuk gae jang? what should i do with it? do i have to soaked it one whole day or anything, coz i’m planning to cook straight away… thanks a lot
yes, you don’t have to boil or soak it. Use it by following the direction in the recipe.
The fiddlehead ferns collected in Maine (USA) are Ostrich ferns or Cinnamon ferns. I’ve heard warnings of not collecting the new growth of bracken although I think that’s because it looks so much like Sweet Fern, which is not a fern at all & not edible (although wikipedia says it can be smoked :-). So Fiddleheads can actually be several different types of ferns, including bracken. The fresh Maine fiddleheads (Ostrich fern) I’ve had taste a lot like asparagus, after the tannic/bitterish paper is removed. Given the price of fresh fiddleheads in New England asparagus might be a better choice.
I have tried to soak, then cook the dried bracken I bought at a Korean market, but after HOURS of simmering it was still tannic/bitterish & hard. Should I have changed the simmering water several times? Salted it? Done something different? I’m intrigued by the idea of cooking an unfamiliar food – especially a foraged one – but I’m not sure this one is worth trying again. I’ve had bibimbap with a little bracken as a garnish & it was good, but maybe I can substitute soaked wakame or soaked/shredded tree ears. Similar texture & flavor but much easier. ???
Hi Lisbon88. You tried to soak and then cook the kosari?
I always do it other way around.
When i need it the next day, the evening before i:
-Boil it for half an hour.
-Turn off the heat and let it sit as it is on the stove overnight.
-In the morning drain it and put in in the fridge.
-For diner i cook it for my bibimbap
Hope it works!
Thanks for the quick response – it took me a while to try again. Your method worked beautifully. Our friends loved the bibimbap as well & now they’ve been turned on to this website!
Looked like you had a blast doing the video with Maangchi. Thanks again Reinier.
Hi Lisbon88. Nice to hear it worked, i just prepared some kosari just now.
Yeah, making the hoddeok video was so much fun!!
Hi Maangchi, love this website and all the information!
We recently got a chance to sample this vegetable at a hwan-gap banquet, and I have a bit of a story aboute it. Served as a buffet item, the stems were pickled and gray (probably started like the second, brown picture). Of course we were quite surprised when what looked like handmade noodles turned out to be a vegetable! For the person asking about the flavor – prepared that way, there was not much of a distinct taste beyond the pickling, and it was more about the texture – sort of chewy-tough in a vegetable way, but not stringy om the way other chewy vegetables can be.
Of course, after the banquet, we had to ask a friend “what was that?” When it turned out to be kosari, we got a worried look, with the explanation that it’s ‘not good for men’ and that monks eat it because it’s ‘very calming’ (subtext implied)! No ill effects were noted, despite the admonition. :)
Now, seeing the name spelled out here, I was able to look it up on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosari (redirects to ‘Bracken fern’, mentioning kosari as the Korean name), and if the article can be trusted… it might not be the healthiest vegetable for other reasons: possibly linked to stomach cancer; and the reported toxicity to blood cells and presence of an enzyme that destroys vitamin B1 might explain the ‘calming’ reputation – but being ‘calmed’ by anemia or vitamin deficiency wouldn’t be good! [The article doesn't say if any preparation methods are known to reduce the bad compounds; that would be good to research.]
Just being alive is toxic, but having found that caution, I wanted to share it in case anyone is thinking of eating a lot of this as a “health” food.
Anyhow, the article also explains what it is: fern stems and fiddleheads, which are also an American delicacy. I’m going to have to find out if American fiddleheads come from the same ferns and warrant the same caution, but they’re a “rare” seasonal item, so it’d be hard to overdo it (at least in the Northeast, sounds like Northwesterners might want to practice moderation?).
Interesting comments! Thank you for the good information!
I know that some people think Kosari might be unhealthy, but Koreans have been eating it for so long it’s hard to believe.
Here’s another interesting article I found on the subject:
http://www.traderscreek.com/Survival_Guide/Edible_Plants/Bracken_Fern/bracken_fern.asp
In defense of kosari, I bought some recently after noticing that every possible food stand in Tsuruhashi (Osaka’s Koreatown) was selling fresh plastic bagfulls of it. After initially worrying about it because of this warning post and doing some research of my own, I’ve come to the conclusion that as long as you’re not eating the rolled up tips (called fiddleheads) and you’re not eating them RAW, you have very minimal chance of getting stomach cancer from it.
None of the articles regarding the carcinogenic qualities of bracken provide any proof that it’s a direct cause of stomach cancer in humans. They can’t even seem to prove whether or not it may be linked to it. Worst I’ve seen is speculation that it may cause stomach cancer in cows (eaten raw out on the field). Not exactly damning evidence that kosari will kill you and you shouldn’t eat it. ;)
For me personally, the most convincing proof I’ve seen that nothing’s wrong with it is that my Japanese mother-in-law, who has had stomach cancer and is also a nurse, has no problem at all with eating it. Her only advice was to make sure it’s well boiled before eating it. It’s called warabi in Japanese, btw, and folks seem to love it here, too! :)
hmm, you did lots of research! : )
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Thank you very much!