Nettle :: Herb of the Month

April 16, 2009

Nature provides us with an amazing variety of plants for springtime foraging. If I had to pick a favorite, as tough as this would be, I would point a gloved finger at stinging nettle. It is, without doubt, an incredible strengthening and revitalizing herb and is my pick for April’s Herb of the Month.

Stinging nettle - Urtica dioica - is a well-known type of nettle, but it’s not the only type. There are about 30 to 40 types in the Urticaceae family. Learn more about the different species of nettle.

Foraging for Nettle in the Garden, Woods, and Fields

I have daring memories of foraging stinging nettle when I lived in Budapest, Hungary. A family friend of my husband Peter, who has an extraordinary amount of wild stinging nettle growing in his back yard, taught me how to pick stinging nettle with my bare hands, literally using my fingertips.

I followed his directions precisely, touching the uppermost top side of the nettle leaf, bringing the sides together, then pulling it off and away from the plant, and then releasing it, dropping the leaf into a bag or basket. Fortunately those prickly stingers – the silica ‘hairs’ on the nettle leaf that hold the formic acid - only stung me once [when I was impatient and not focused]. Good thing there was curly dock growing near the nettles.

Curly dock, which looks similar to dandelion, is nature’s natural remedy to help relieve the painful sting and itch from those tiny silica hairs located on the underside of the nettle leave. It generally grows right alongside nettle. Pluck one of its leaves and rub it over the affected area for immediate relief.

Whether I worn gloves or not, I foraged for fresh nettle when I stopped it outside in my mother-in-law’s backyard or when we made another visit to our family friend’s backyard bounty.

If foraging for nettle from mother earth isn’t possible, there are other ways to get your nettle, one suggestion is purchasing certified organic nettle leaf from a reputable source such as Mountain Rose Herbs, our sponsor for the Herb of the Month.

Note: A Word of Caution – Not All Herbs are Safe for Consumption

All herbs are not edible and some are extremely toxic. Please be cautious when foraging for edible herbs and do not pick plants from anywhere. If you aren’t certain of its identity, don’t pick it or eat it. Also take care to purchase herbs from reputable sources. Make certain the herbs are labeled organic and have not been treated with pesticides or preservative.

Ouch Free Techniques for Handling Stinging Nettle

Gathering nettle doesn’t have to be painful, if you prepare yourself for the task and make sure you protect your fingers and hands before handling. The glove-free technique I shared with you above was demonstrated and worked for me [except the one time I wasn’t paying attention]. However, I would advise handing nettle with thick kid gloves for your safety and comfort.

Get out a pair of gardening or thick gloves, a pair of scissors, and your favorite basket or bag, and take them with you to the spot where the nettle is growing. Snip off or pick the top leaves, which is the most potent part of the nettle plant.

Selecting Nettle

Nettle is best used for food when they are first coming up in the spring. Keep in mind once the stems have started to elongate and they begin to flower, the leaves aren’t as tender and become less desirable, but they are still edible.

The color of the nettle leaves may vary from a light shade of green to dark green to a dark reddish-purple. Any of these leaf colorations is good for eating. However, it is said that the nettle leaves with more purple color indicates it’s richer in iron mineral.

Always choose fresh or dried nettle that is ideally organic and is untreated with chemical pesticides.

Storing and Preparing Nettle for Later Use

Here are a couple ways to store and preserve fresh and dried nettle:

Rinse and pat dry fresh nettle leaves and trim the stems short. Place the leaves between two paper towels and place in a large plastic bag and refrigerate up to four days.

Dried Nettle

Drying nettle using a dehydrator is a great way to preserve extra fresh nettle to use for later use. You will need to do the following:

Washing the leaves right after harvesting or purchasing.
Remove the leaves from the stem.
Allow the leaves to air dry for about 30 minutes or pat dry with paper towel.
Place the leaves in a dehydrator, spreading them out on a dehydrator rack in single rows (do not pile the leaves on top of each other).
Keep enough space between each leaf so there is good air circulation.
If necessary, rotate the tray a few times through out dehydrating.
Dehydrate for 8 to 10 hours or until the leaves are completely dry (to avoid mold).

Dry nettle leaves the good old fashion way by hanging a bunch in a dry, dark, cool location until thoroughly dried.

Dried and powdered nettle can keep well for months when stored in a cool, dry place protected from extended exposure to direct sunlight, in an airtight container [glass jar, spice tin, or plastic bag].

Always remember to label and date the container.

Tip: Store dried leaves whole and crumble or crush the leaf or leaves as needed. This will help retain the fresh flavor from the leaves.

Nettle freezes successfully.

Nutritional Benefits of this amazing herb

Nettle is a highly regarded herb in the world of herbal medicines, and not as regarded, overlooked, and worst in the world of the average person’s back yard for its nutritional and healing value. This amazing herb contains a wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and other elements.

Nettle contains:

Suggestions and Tips Using Nettle

Some fun and delicious ways to use and enjoy fresh, dried, powdered nettle.

You can eat fresh nettles? This might seem a bit frightening, even bold, but it true, yes, fresh nettle can be eaten raw. But be cautious and be sure to neutralize the acids that can sting you. How do you do this? Be sure to crush the nettle leaves, which deactivates the acids that can sting you.

Use your blender, mortar and pestle, and juicer to crush nettle leaves.
Try using fresh nettles the next time you make a green juice or smoothie.
Use fresh nettle in soup and salad recipes.
Make powdered nettle by grinding dried nettle leaves in a coffee grinder
Make a fresh batch of healing nettle tea.

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I absolutely adore tea. It is one of my favorite beverages.

Cold Brewed Nettle Tea

Peter’s mom spoke highly of nettle and said to me, “Nettle made into a tea is excellent for rejuvenating the body and is a perfect spring tonic”.

Fresh or dried nettle is great for making tea. However, I personally prefer using dried nettle for a thicker, richer, tastier tea. Nettle is an excellent herbal cleanser that I drink often.

I steep dried leaves in fresh cold water generally forging a tea-ball strainer or items like that, to allow the leaves to float free in the cold water. Nettle tea doesn’t take much time to steep. You’ll notice the water change to a deep rich color within 10 minutes. Steep as long as you desire, anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours, or even overnight. The longer you steep it and more intense and rich the flavor.

Store unconsumed tea in the fridge.

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Learn more about Raw Epicurean’s Herb of the Month Club and how your name can be selected for the awesome Herb of the Month gift bundle featuring “Nettle”, courtesy of our generous sponsor Mountain Rose Herbs.

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Comments

32 Comments so far

Lindsay on April 16, 2009 Thursday, 9:17 pm
Nice job putting out a lot of information on nettles here. I must say it seems odd to buy weeds. The foraging sounds more fun. :)
Cheris Courtney on April 17, 2009 Friday, 4:17 am
Wow! You lived in Budapest,Hungary! How exciting! I’d love to hear more about that.

Thanks for this great article on Nettle! I’ve also heard about incorporating it into hair oils/teas. This definitely will help me incorporate more herbs into my lifestyle.
Hannah on April 17, 2009 Friday, 7:46 am
Ingrid this is so funny–I am doing my morning blog reading with a cup of nettle tea and it looks like we had a brain wave! I love nettles. I switched to nettle tea from green tea recently and I love it. Thanks for an informative post!

Hannah - synchronicity ;-)
Elena on April 17, 2009 Friday, 8:27 am
Growing up we used to use nettle in hot soups all the time…

So, do you guarantee that I would not get a nettle blister if I put it through a blender? :) I would not want to have a swollen itchy tongue ;)
Angelique on April 17, 2009 Friday, 1:04 pm
Thanks for this info! I’ve been hearing a lot about nettle lately. Next step for me is to locate more pix on the web and see if I can find them locally. Great idea about brewing tea in cold water for longer or even overnight. I am going to do that!
shernell on April 17, 2009 Friday, 2:17 pm
This was such a great post ! You always seem to knoiw just how to break it down !

P.S I’m still keeping my fingers crossed on that Rubarb post :)
earthmother on April 17, 2009 Friday, 3:06 pm
Well I’m having a lovely visual of you foraging in the wilds of Budapest!

Did Peter’s Mom also tell you nettle is a strong fertility promoter? Oh yes, MIL wants some Magyar grandbabies! And, once you’re knocked up, there’s no richer source of folic acid than nettle, which is vital to a healthy developing fetus. After you’ve birthed your beautiful baby, the protein, vitamins and minerals in nettles will enrich your breast milk.

So now you know the real reason Peter’s mama speaks so highly of nettles. :D

Earthmother - LOL!!! You might be right!
debbie on April 17, 2009 Friday, 6:50 pm
I think Earth Mother is on to your MIL!
baby making YES!!!!
deb xoxoo
Nicole on April 17, 2009 Friday, 8:53 pm
I never thought I would learn so much about nettle:) Thanks!
Mari T on April 18, 2009 Saturday, 8:50 pm
Cool, I’ll definitely have to give this herb a try
Cheryl A on April 19, 2009 Sunday, 11:47 am
I just finished watching some of Susan Weeds videos. Her absolute favorite herb is Nettles…she loves, loves, loves it and drinks Nettle infusion daily. She really considers it a “womans herb”. She talks about the great effects on hair and nails + the great nutrient benefits. Between your post and her info, I am about to begin a daily regime of Nettles!! Thanks.

Cheryl Yes, join the nettle club! :-)
Pascalle on April 22, 2009 Wednesday, 1:07 pm
This was great information! I have to read it over again. I like nettle tea for my allergies. I want to learn to forage for it! Thanks!
Kendra on April 22, 2009 Wednesday, 1:13 pm
My husband used to grow nettles and loves to eat them, but they are rather new to me. I’d love to try making nettle tea, especially if it helps with allergies!

Hi Kendra - thanks for stopping by. Apparently nettle does wonders helping relieve allergies. Several people have left comments attesting to this, and I hope it works for you too.
Mae on April 22, 2009 Wednesday, 2:22 pm
I love tasty nettle tea to help increase my low iron stores. I forgot it’s high in silica, no wonder it’s good for hair & nails, too!
Saundra Scarce on April 22, 2009 Wednesday, 2:46 pm
I love nettle tea when I’m feeling run down.
Jen Mathews on April 22, 2009 Wednesday, 2:48 pm
Great article! I have heard nettle is good for removing residue from your hair too.

Jen - Really, I hadn’t heard of this, yet another wonderful thing about nettles.
Sara Jane on April 22, 2009 Wednesday, 3:11 pm
Wow! What great information to have. I recently learned that nettle was good for allergies. I had horrid allergies as a child (literally almost dying from them). They went away for many years when I relocated. Funny thing, everyone here has bad allergies but not me, until this year. My allergies seem to have returned with a vengeance! Thanks for this information on how to prepare nettles. I can’t wait to try it! ~ a beginner in the world of herbs, Sara O’

Sara - I hope nettles rid you of allergies once again. Thanks for stopping by. :-)
Veronica on April 22, 2009 Wednesday, 5:39 pm
I didn’t realize how great an herb this is!
amy jones on April 22, 2009 Wednesday, 7:11 pm
Stinging Nettle…I love it. Use it in MANY of my formulas. I’d like to forage for it one day!
Sabine Williams on April 22, 2009 Wednesday, 11:42 pm
Funny, but after reading about the the nutritional benefits of nettles and nettle tea, and finding a few good recipes for these herbs, I ordered some seed for them, (Urtica Diocia) I rec’d viable seed, and soon had a lovely emerald patch of the prickly and nutritious greens…only to discover that a smaller type of nettle already grew rampantly in my area.
Apparently there are two types of nettles, “greater” and “lesser” nettles. I had no idea!

Hi Sabine - Greater and lesser nettles… I had no idea either. Thanks for sharing this information with us. I wonder if one is better than the other for culinary use. Enjoy all the lovely nettle growing abundantly in your area.
heather on April 23, 2009 Thursday, 5:26 am
I love nettle, it’s a staple herb for me, I find it is terrific for my allergies and a GREAT overall tonic for the body. Thanks for your article, it was very informative!
Zara on April 23, 2009 Thursday, 9:06 am
Great info on nettle. I’m going to try cold brewing tea, especially during the hot summer days. It won’t heat up to house and it conserves on my gas bill.
Allison Courville on April 23, 2009 Thursday, 11:15 am
I love nettle tea, thanks for the information. My favorite latest tea concoction is nettle, oatstraw, rose hips, rose, and peppermint…yummy!

Hi Allison - I like to sound of your tea concoction and plan to try it. Do you measure equal parts of each herb?
Kim on April 23, 2009 Thursday, 12:58 pm
I’ve heard that nettles are good for hair & skin, and my dad takes nettle to help his allergies.
Cora on April 23, 2009 Thursday, 1:28 pm
Hello :) I was just ordering from mountain rose herbs and I have more then a few times, so I decided to add them to myspace, when I saw the nettles giveaway and wanted to read more information on it, since I have been thinking of switching between jade elegance and rooibos, red tea. So thank you very much :) Have a great evening.

Hi and thanks for stopping by Cora! I love rooibos tea, but haven’t tried jade elegance ~ yet. :-)
Cora on April 24, 2009 Friday, 10:14 am
Hi and thanks for stopping by Cora! I love rooibos tea, but haven’t tried jade elegance ~ yet. :-)

You are welcome :) You should definitely give jade elegance a try, I love watching the leaves unfold and another great one is the velvet lantern.
Dineen on April 30, 2009 Thursday, 1:04 pm
I have always been amazed at how nutrient-dense this wonderful herb is. I wish it were growing wild near me. Thank goodness for retailers like Mountain Rose and their generous sponsorship of your gift program.
Ingrid on May 1, 2009 Friday, 9:06 pm
Announcement

Congratulations to Kendra of A Sonoma Garden!!! Her number, lucky number 13, was picked from the random number generator I use for all my giveaway drawings. Keep an eye out for your package from our sponsor Mountain Rose Herb. They will ship you a variety sample of organic Nettle products.

Thank you all for your participation! This is a fun monthly feature here on Raw Epicurean. Also, a very special thank you to Mountain Rose Herbs for your support and generosity.

Stay tune for the upcoming post featuring Lemongrass, May’s herb of the month.
Kendra on May 13, 2009 Wednesday, 1:09 pm
I just received my nettle package today in the mail. Holy cow, I can’t believe everything Mountain Rose sent! I was expecting just a tiny little sample, but they provided me with an 8oz bag of dried nettles, 4oz of nettle powder, loose nettle tea and nettle supplements! Thanks so much!

Kendra - I’m so glad you received all your wonderful nettle goodies. Isn’t Mountain Rose Herbs and their products the best! Enjoy it all! :-)
cherrybombpie on May 18, 2009 Monday, 11:58 am
“Nettle contains:

Amino Acids | Beta-Carotene | Calcium | Iodine | Iron | Magnesium | Phosphorous | Potassium | Protein | Silica | Sulfur | Tannin | Vitamin A | Vitamin B complex | Vitamin C | Vitamin D | Vitamin K | this makes me want to try nettle tea.”
this makes me want to try nettle tea :)
Pam on August 17, 2009 Monday, 6:52 am
Found this just recently. I have LOTS of nettles on my property, but didn’t get them identified until July. I can hardly wait for spring!
Nettle (Tea and Benefits) « EAT HEALTHY!!! BE HAPPY!!! on December 22, 2009 Tuesday, 4:08 pm
[…] of teaspoons of nettle and letting it sit anywhere between 30 minutes to overnight. Click on the link to read about all of Nettle’s […]

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