The Spring Sting

This afternoon I was outside gathering up some Stinging Nettle to dehydrate. Every year I say I'm going to take better advantage of this nutritious plant, and harvest more than just a few meals of greens - I am, after all, the one silly enough to actually plant it in a low-lying, wet corner of my yard.  I'm lucky that my husband barely frowns at all anymore when I announce what's for dinner - after several years of the spring-time 'treat,' he admits it blends well with other greens and some garlic in a quick stir-fry/steam (cooked just long enough to wilt and remove the 'sting'). Many herbalists suggest adding citrus, tomato, or some other acid to improve mineral uptake (I always have lemon juice on hand), and I tend to use butter in my preparation as well - to increase the absorption of vitamins (a la 'Nourishing Traditions'). Nettle stands in for spinach in a lasagna, and makes a great pesto, long before you have any basil growing outside.

Stinging nettle puts on growth quite quickly if you don't keep up your harvest or hack it back to force new growth. Somehow, it always gets away from me and winds up a stand of 3-5 foot plants that try to set seed and invade my herb bed and my neighbour's soil (it spreads by seed as well as by runners). We only have a chain-link fence separating our yards - but it seems fair since he shares his creeping buttercup with me, along with a bit of quack grass - the other neighbours share vetch and bugleweed that doesn't die off in our mild winters (I only swear a little). It's the price I pay for having good air circulation and no shade cast by a wood fence, I suppose.

Today I vowed I would take a break, and gather enough greens to fill my dehydrator, and so I set out with scissors and a bowl (I sometimes wear gloves, but I find if I pinch a leaf with two fingers of one hand, and clip with the other, I can *almost* insure no stings). For best results, this plant needs to be dehydrated on the lowest setting, so oven drying and simple 'on or off' dehydrators aren't ideal.

It's the hairs on the leaves and stem that release formic acid when you brush up against them, and can cause a rash or hives.

There's lots of information on the Internet to help you identify edible plants, so please make sure you know what you're picking, that you're allowed to do so, and that the plants have not been sprayed with any herbicides or exposed to pollution. I planted my own nettle patch so that I can harvest for food (it freezes well after blanching), for drying (to use in teas and possibly a tincture or oil), and for use in a manure tea mix for my garden along with some comfrey and horsetail (another volunteer 'weed' that I make use of rather than trying to eradicate).  I'll give the plants a couple of days, and harvest again for the dinner table, the freezer or the dehydrator (today's gathering should be dry by then).

 

Nugget was disappointed - she thought I was gathering a treat for her.