stinging nettle
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http://www.eattheweeds.com/urtica-chamaedryoides-nettle-knowledge-2/
"Stinging Nettles are rich in vitamin A, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. They are also high in protein and when cooked are very mild, tasting similar to spinach but slightly rougher.
Soaking, cooking, refrigerating, wilting or drying neutralizes the plant’s sting. And to be on the safe side the plant should not be eaten after flowering. It reportedly can irritate the urinary tract, which makes some sense as it is a diuretic as well. It also gets stringy as it ages. Cooked nettles can be used in a wide variety of recipes from polenta to pesto to soup. There is a recipe below. The water you cook the nettles in can be kept for tea or as a soup base. You can also dry the leaves and use them for tea as well."
Survival School in the 70's...earning your "Euell Gibbons" Tab
"Stinging Nettles are rich in vitamin A, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. They are also high in protein and when cooked are very mild, tasting similar to spinach but slightly rougher.
Soaking, cooking, refrigerating, wilting or drying neutralizes the plant’s sting. And to be on the safe side the plant should not be eaten after flowering. It reportedly can irritate the urinary tract, which makes some sense as it is a diuretic as well. It also gets stringy as it ages. Cooked nettles can be used in a wide variety of recipes from polenta to pesto to soup. There is a recipe below. The water you cook the nettles in can be kept for tea or as a soup base. You can also dry the leaves and use them for tea as well."
Survival School in the 70's...earning your "Euell Gibbons" Tab
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exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Yes, we once made nettle soup (potage aux orties) in Brittany, for my son, who was keen to try, with nettles from the garden, of which they were plenty. Nothing special really, just a typical vegetable soup made with stock, potato for thickening and nettles to impart a sort of greenish flavour, if you can imagine what I mean. It's not something I would bother to make again.
In my opinion, nettles are best left somewhere inconspicuous to grow, as they support the caterpillars of some nice butterflies.
It's not bad, cooked; a little bit bitter, unless you cook it with milk. Spinach tastes better. So, for that matter do sorrel (sour), lamb's quarters (mild) and kale (more robust). My grandmother used to gather armfuls of it to chop for the ducklings. We watched, aghast, and she just laughed, showing us her gnarled, calloused hands - too tough to sting.
Maybe she was gathering clumps that were cut earlier ?(and so according to what they say no longer stinging**)
I get stung regularly even through my trousers and the stings last for up to a day (I always rub on a dock leaf immediately and that seems to help)
Perhaps your grandma was having fun at your expense . I find it hard to believe she didn't get stung if she didn't pay attention.
** that trick doesn't work for me ;I still get stung if I try to pick up wilted nettles.
Nope. Nettles grew taller than her by the poultry barn. She just clutched a bunch of stems, hacked them off with her machete - all fresh and strong - and tossed them on her chopping table. (And, yes, they still sting when I accidentally include one in a pile of weed-whacked grass.) It's just the callouses on her hands were too thick for the tiny needles to penetrate, and she was careful not to touch it with any other part. Me, I brushed up against a clump of them and had a big red burning rash for days. They'll go through - and even stay in - fabric, but can't go through leather. Oddly enough, teeny little downy ducks and geese would shovel it up with no sign of distress.
Yeah, I recall it being much like schav (sorrel soup): not bad, but nothing to write home about.
Incidentally, is anyone else here (seemingly) wholly immune to the dermatological irritant aspects of such plants (incuding poison oak/ivy, etc.)?
https://www.total-contact.co.uk/blog/2017/10/31/the-benefits-to-horses-of-the-common-stinging-nettle
Kid I went to high school with was apparently immune - he used to rub a handful of leaves on his face to startle people.
Some people call nightshade varieties "horse nettle" - don't make your soup out of that.
Kid I went to high school with was apparently immune - he used to rub a handful of leaves on his face to startle people.
Some people call nightshade varieties "horse nettle" - don't make your soup out of that.