Nettle
How to Identify Nettle
Stinging nettle (Urtica genus) is a European native plant that has become naturalised throughout the world. It's considered an aggressive invasive and has become established and common in certain areas.
Nettles grow 2 to 5 feet tall and have opposite pointed leaves with toothed edges and tiny hairs on the underside and stem. Smaller, younger leaves are more heart-shaped. True to its name, stinging nettle imparts a painful sting through tiny hairs on the underside of its leaves and on its stems.
The stinging hairs, called trichomes, are hollow like hypodermic needles with protective tips. The tips break off when touched, unsheathing the sharp needles. The trichomes inject formic acid, histamines, and other chemicals into your skin, which is what causes the sting. Stinging nettle is dioecious, which means plants can have either male or female flowers.
Edibility
For centuries, nettle has been a staple for ancient cultures and continues to be an important food source throughout the world.
It's arguably one of the most nutritional wild edibles available, but it needs to be cooked or dried to neutralize the sting.
Nutrition
A 2015 study compares the nutritional properties of stinging nettle leaf flour with wheat and barley flours. The researchers blanched nettle leaves for one minute, drained, and dried at 60°C (140°F) for two days and then ground the dried leaves into flour.
They reported that nettle leaf flour had three times more protein than wheat or barley and less than half the carbohydrates.
Nettle also had "a range of health benefitting bioactive compounds" and "a better amino acid profile than most of the other leafy vegetables".
100g of blanched stinging nettle has an average of 481mg of calcium and 6.9g of fibre.
That's 37% of the daily value for calcium and 25% for fiber, according to nutritionvalue.org.
Cooking
Prepare nettle leaves as you would spinach, lightly steamed, sautéed, in stir-fries, soups, etc. or try making fresh stinging nettle pasta.
Be careful not to overcook which will destroy nettle's nutritional qualities and result in an unappealing mush.
The best ways to use nettle are fresh, tinctured, or freeze-dried, but air-drying or dehydrating works, too.
Nettle Soup
Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes
1 whole leek
A handful of wild garlic
A handful of stinging nettle shoots
100ml Coconut milk
A pinch of salt
A pinch of cracked black pepper
A pinch of nutmeg
Clean, peel and chop the potatoes and leek in rough 3cm cubes, simmer together in 1 litre of water for 7 minutes. Add the wild garlic and nettle, reduce for just 1 min to keep the fresh green colour.
Blend until soft and creamy and keep warm on a low heat. Add 100ml of coconut milk and season to taste.
Serve with your favourite nuts, seeds and oils for garnish.
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