Here you’ll find a list of our favourite Nettle Recipes.
Please use these as a guide – however, you can use Nettle Tops in any recipe that calls for Cooked spinach, and for me, that’s pretty much any savoury recipe (I’ve even used powdered nettle leaves for making green lattes)
The Key to getting used to using nettles is actually in the picking of them. I advise you use marigold style gloves which mean you won’t get stung at all 🙂
Some overview ideas for inspiring some Nettle Recipes through the season:
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.
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.
Happy Foraging
