How to eat nettles?

[Marschinka]

I've heard alot about wild edibles and how super nutritious they are. One edible I've heard about are stinging nettles. Does anyone know how you eat stinging nettles? Just to gather them you would have to wear gloves.

My husband is Bulgarian so we go for visits every year. The name of the town he is from, if it were translated to English would be "stingingnettleville." Just thinking I may have the opportunity to try something new while I'm there this summer. Bulgarians cook it like spinach and put it in soups, I'm just wondering if there is a way to eat it raw.

[Eva]

I've heard alot about wild edibles and how super nutritious they are. One edible I've heard about are stinging nettles. Does anyone know how you eat stinging nettles? Just to gather them you would have to wear gloves.

My husband is Bulgarian so we go for visits every year. The name of the town he is from, if it were translated to English would be "stingingnettleville." Just thinking I may have the opportunity to try something new while I'm there this summer. Bulgarians cook it like spinach and put it in soups, I'm just wondering if there is a way to eat it raw.

Hmmmmm, interesting! I have heard of people eating this, so I'm sure someone will pipe up with some info. I know pine needles can just be tossed in a green smoothie!

[Aleesha Sattva]

i add dry ones to my smoothies!

[Ginger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpxMDeH1x5Y :D

[Arky]

I regularly pick wild stinging nettles and juice them. If you do this, cut the stalks into short pieces or you may damage your juicer - the fibres in nettle stems are extremely tough (people used to make rope from these fibres!).

For the same reason, if you decide to add them to smoothies then only add the leaves, not the stalks. If you ignore this advice you may even destroy something as powerful as a Vitamix - the fibres are so tough they'll stop even the most powerful blender.

Once the nettle leaves are blended thoroughly, I can assure you, from first-hand experience, that you will absolutely 100% NOT get stung in any way at all. Do not be worried about this as long as you have a powerful blender.

Having said this, I prefer to juice nettles rather than blend them because although I can handle whatever greens I put in my smoothies, I prefer to avoid smoothies which become too thick/fibrous. I find blended nettles lead to a smoothie with a texture like drinking cotton wool.

If you juice them, on the other hand, you get a wonderful rich, dark brown-green juice, with a pleasant fatty froth on top. As I mentioned in my post on wild grass, this fatty froth is something I have only ever encountered, to a significant extent, in wild greens and I don't think this is any coincidence - farmed greens just don't seem to develop their EFA content to the same degree as wild plants. Consequently, I really relish the opportunity to consume the fatty froth along with the juice, and I encourage you to do the same; just keep stirring it back into the drink with a teaspoon, in between sips. Nettle juice has a very 'earthy' taste. This perhaps sounds unappetizing but it's not - it's very palatable, while being rather unique. You'll see what I mean when you try it!

Let me know how you get on... :)


J.

[brydee]

I take nettles in powder form everyday,

Also fresh ones are all over the place here, i love the taste.

Iv never eaten a STINGING nettle, iv got a book on eating wild foods and it says that nearly all nettles sting, but its seasonal and can also depend on the stage of growth at which the nettle is at. I've also read horror stories of peoples throats and mouths swelling up from eating stinging nettles.

So i always just pick the nettles that dont sting me until i find a better solution:o

I think arky's advice sounds best though, im just to scared to eat stinging nettles, im a phobic or wasps,bees,nettles, anything that stings!

[carolg]

Love the stinging nettle talk.

I'm trying to get a plant to root right now.

I sure wish they were all over the place here.

Are you all growing it in your garden or planters or ?

I heard it's super good for hair growth. Didn't know it came in powder, but tincture knew of.

carolg

[Aleesha Sattva]

i just took a wild foraging private lesson last week. my guide told me that you should dehydrate the nettles and then add them to things. someone she knows went to a luncheon with a raw foodist and she served stinging nettles in the salad. all of them ended up in the hospital!

i'll stick with the dehydrated variety to be on the safe side.

[moors]

Hey I forgot to look at when these were posted when I first read it, there has been a lot of time since these were posted. So, people might have lost interest in nettes or the site or they might have found or created good or better recipes.
Are there recipes you experimented and can write or link here? It doesn't have to taste good, you can write you didn't like the taste so I and new readers don't start with the same mistake.
I've become a member upon reading here and you can see my first entry by clicking this link: http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?67909-Hello-What-Do-You-Eat-Raw