Nature's Choice

Stinging Nettle  January 2010

This time of year, looking at the cold ground, I begin to feel a stirring in my blood for spring, just around the corner! Spring brings a humble plant forth, a humble but immensely strong and stately lady, Urtica dioica, the Common Stinging Nettle. In actuality, there is nothing common about a Nettle, other than her long tradition of usage as a nutritive plant. Used often as a potherb, in soups, stews, steamed, and as an infused tea, this plant specifically nourishes the adrenals and the kidneys, has a broad spectrum of vitamins and minerals including vitamins D and K, chlorophyll, calcium and potassium.

Urtica dioica can deliver quite a sting if she is not approached and harvested gently - but don't be afraid! The sting of Nettle can cause a unpleasant, but non-harmful, contact dermatitis, as my youngest son Ben discovered this last summer. While hiking in some forest, we were climbing down a rather steep patch and Ben lost his footing. As he started to fall, he saw a tall plant nearby and grabbed onto her for support. Nettle broke his fall, but left a very nasty welt on his hand. Crying and disgruntled, we found a dock plant nearby. I quickly picked some leaves, tore them up, chewed on them to make an emergency poultice, and spread the leaves on his hand. Then we picked a large dock leaf to wrap around his hand and hold the poultice in place. While Ben will never forget what the Common Stinging Nettle looks or feels like, even this sting is considered medicinal in herbal medicine. For centuries, a common treatment for rheumatism and arthritis involved slapping the swollen and inflamed joints and tissues with fresh nettle . . . the sting and rash would bring fresh blood circulation to the affected area and relieve some of the pain and inflammation.

Nettle has found a great use in the world of hay fever and allergy sufferers; she is being shown in studies to reduce histamine production in some people. As if that isn't enough, Nettle helps bring in a good milk supply to a new mother and reduce the incidence of hemorrhage due to her high amounts of vitamin K! Nettle also brings a feeling of great health to her drinkers, as she lowers the blood pressure. The most common use of today's fresh Nettle is for eating, pickling, extracts, and tea drinking. My personal experience of drinking Nettle is energizing.

Whether enjoyed as a steamed side dish or as a tea, Nettle is far from common with her plethora of tasty and medicinal uses!

Summer L. Michaelson
Village Herbalist

Steamed Nettle and Feta:

Steam your nettle leaves (don't worry, the stinging hairs will disappear!), toss with feta cheese, olives, extra virgin olive oil, a touch of lemon, salt and pepper. Beautifully simple!

Pickled Nettles:

Place fresh nettle leaves in a glass jar, add apple cider vinegar and olive oil. This dressing is ready to eat within a month, use as a dressing or take by spoonfuls through the winter season. You'll never find this family without at least one jar socked away!

Nettle Dinner Tea:

Pour eight ounces of boiling water over a teaspoon of dried Nettle leaves, steep for 5 minutes and drink with honey.

Strong Nettle Leaf Infusion:

Place a couple handfuls of dried herb into a quart mason jar and fill to the top with boiling water. Cover and steep a minimum of 4 hours. I often start my medicinal tea the night before and let it steep through the night. The longer the steep, the more vitamins, minerals, chlorophyll and medicinal components that dissolve into the water. It will be ready in the morning for the day ahead!

Additional Note by Laura

Wild Bill's Daily "Elixir of Life"

No recipe list for Nettle Tea would be complete without mention of Bill's daily morning "brew" which he swears has kept him from getting sick for years. Unfortunately, as is the case with many kitchen alchemists, trying to narrow him down on an exacting recipe is simply futile. It can change from week to week, depending on what he has dried or crushed and at his fingertips at the moment! I call it his Nettle tea because that is generally his leaf base. From there he adds elderberry, rosehip, lemon balm and mint of one or the other variety. He brews it a full pot at a time - sometimes in an old fashioned perculator (the kind you would use out camping!) and other times he uses our new french press. It always comes out wonderful, and most people who try it usually ask him for a bag of their own! If there is any "secret ingredient" involved, it would definitely be a teaspoon of Bill's passion!