Stinging Nettle : Yummy Accessible Free Food & Medicine

Many of you may only know this plant for the stinging sensation that it produces when you touch it, but trust me there is so much more to this amazing plant. You can eat stinging nettle much like you would steamed spinach, you can make a delicious and nutritious tea out of stinging nettle, you can make skin cream to help with eczema, it makes an amazing hair conditioner and not only that, but the stems contain fibers that can be used to produce clothing! Where I live, in the Pacific North West, this plant is quite abundant, in fact it grows like a weed and it’s not uncommon to find big fields of stinging nettle in the forest.

Harvesting Nettle

I’m not any kind of professional herbalist or anything, but I have collected nettle for myself and my family for years. It’s really quite easy to manage. Here’s a quick guide to harvesting your nettle for use in teas or in food.

Nettle Harvesting Equipment Checklist: Garden Gloves, Scissors, a Bag.

Now once you have your gear all ready, it’s time to go find a nice patch of Nettles. Like I have mentioned, they are very common in the Pacific North West, and most of North America. They are also said to be abundant in Northern Europe and throughout most of Asia. They can be found in southern Europe and even Africa in some places if you’re really lucky. They grow best in places with moist soil.

Once you have found your patch, you must choose the best plants for your purposes. The very best most nutritious nettle leaves are the brand new leaves at the top 4 inches of the plant, and the very best time to get them is early on in their development usually mid to late spring – this is when the most energy is surging through the plant.

The process of cutting the leaves is quite simple, just be careful not to brush up against the leaves otherwise you will be stung. Remember to be respectful and only take what you need from each plant, when you treat them with respect, they will be much happier to become a part of you. Once cut just allow the leaves to fall into your bag, and there you have it. Your nettles have been harvested.

Now How Do I Eat My Nettles?

Well now we have a few options.
1 ) You can use them just as you would use cooked spinach in any dish – Steamed Nettles, Nettle Pizza, Nettle Eggs, use your imagination!
2 ) You can make tea. Either fresh or dried, Nettle makes a great Tea. I find fresh to be particularly energizing.
3 ) Smoothies – Blend up your raw nettle leaves into a smoothie with some citrus fruit and bananas and you will never go back.

See Some of my Nettle Recipes

My Experiences with Stinging Nettle

Ok for those of you who have come for straight up information on how to handle this plant, you may want to gloss over this section, this is where I describe what I have experienced personally with my relationship to this plant and it’s kinda out there so be warned!

The summer that I started ingesting wild nettles from the land that I live on, I began to feel a new energy in my body. I even would go so far as to say that I felt a presence inside me. I began to feel lighter, and found much more energy where there was not much before. Soon my dream time was injected with visits from elf type beings. I still have the feeling that there is some connection with Nettles and the forest spirits such as elves and faeries. When I ingest more nettles I find my connection to the forest spirit realms is stronger and they speak to me more clearly in my dreams and visions – and I do believe that they can tell us much about how to learn to integrate with nature in harmony. I will leave the contents of my elvish dreams to a future post though.

Here’s a documentary on Stinging Nettle which will give you a good feel for what this stuff can do!

Stinging Nettle Recipes

Nettle Soup

Ingredients:
A big Shwack full of Nettle leaves(let’s say 3 cups)
6 Cups of Water
1-2 Heads of Garlic Depending on taste
2 Largish Potatoes
1 Onion

Instructions: Throw it in a pot, set your love beams to high and cook it up until it looks and smells like awesome.

Raw Nettle Smoothie

Ingredients:
a couple GLOVED handfuls of fresh raw nettle leaves
2 Bananas
1 Glass of Orange Juice
1/2 Glass of Vanilla Flavored Almond Milk or Vanilla Yogurt
1 Handful of Strawberries
1 Handful of Hemp Hearts

Instructions: Throw it all in your blender, sing a sweet song from your heart to your mixed ingredients and blend it up until your desire to drink it up can no longer be contained.

Fresh Nettle Tea

Ingredients:
Fresh Nettle Leaves
Water

Instructions: Gently place your nettles into your kettle with a gloved hand. Pour on hot water and cover. Let steep for a few minutes and pour into your cup.
You can take this further and create an infusion by simply letting the nettles steep over night in a jar or something with a good cover. This will increase the medicinal value of your tea by quite a lot and it is amazingly energizing.