This is a classic Nettle Soup Recipe, bringing a lot of nutrients and minerals that the body is craving after those cold winter months. The base of this soup is a leek and potato with nettle leaves added in late with the leeks, to keep the nutrient boost and the vibrant green colour.
Nettle Soup Recipe Video
Ingredients for our Nettle Soup Recipe:
- Half a bag of nettles, washed (about 200g)
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 2 onions, skinned and diced
- A handful of wild garlic stalks (50g) finely chopped, (or two garlic cloves)
- 2 Leeks, chopped
- Two Celery Sticks, chopped
- One and a half litres vegetable
- A little single cream (vegan cream also works)
Method:
- Boil the potatoes and celery for 10 mins in the vegetable stock.
- Fry off the onions, leeks, wild garlic stalks and the nettles for 2 mins.
- Mix the two together and put in a blender, blend until smooth
- Add a swirl of cream in your serving bowl before eating, along with salt and pepper
- Why not add some fried nettle crisps to go on your soup?
Find more Nettle Recipes right here
Edible Use
Root: herbal use.
Stem: edible when young, becomes fibrous with age.
Leaves young: lacto ferment, spinach sub, crisps, pickled, soups, pesto, sauce.
Leaves old: powdered, cordial, syrup, stock.
Fruit/seeds: edible, roasted, fried.
Herbal Use
Talking to a range of herbalists, it seems that nettles are the go-to herb for most ailments and they are the lifeblood of current herbalism. Nettle root has been used to help treat prostate cancer and generally helps you keep a healthy prostate. Teas, infusions, creams and tincture are mainly used to help reduce allergies, stimulate digestion, cleanse blood, aid lactation, reduce inflammation, promote menstruation, relieve pain, kill germs, stop hair loss, lower body temperature, increase urination, stop bleeding, dilate blood vessels, lower blood pressure, heal wounds.
The use of nettles is proven to aid arthritis, although clinical trials isolated a number of chemicals present in the nettle for tests, traditionally you would hit the desired area with the stinging nettle for up to 20 minutes, causing the heat sensation for a number of hours.
Check out our making medicine blog post here.
Miscellaneous
Fibres from the stem of this plant make an extremely strong cord and can be spun very finely to also make thread. Interestingly, a number of companies around the world are still looking in to this plant for potential use as cloth and clothing.