I have some growing in my back acres and I have heard of eating them but.... the sting is so painful that I just can't think of eating them. They are packed full of nutrients. and free just growing in my back yard. I heard of rolling a rolling pin over them to squish the stinger parts but still can't get past the fear o them stinging my mouth.
Anybody out there eat sting nettles? Can I juice them? Or mix them in a green smoothie??

You can make tea out of them..I would have to refresh my memory on what the tea does. There is a certain way to make the teas out of some things like nettles..but still easy. Maybe do a search on the Internet for a tea recipe and what it does.

Love,
Prism

a dude on here long ago used to make smoothies out of them and totally loved them. he'd get super excited about finding a nettle patch, you could feel his dancing-in-total-happiness vibe right through the computer, it was rad.
i don't know if it's still hard on your insides to be eating the sting though so i never did it. you could certainly juice the nettles and i'm sure that would be just so incredibly good for you. other than that i have only heard of them being steamed like spinach and the dried herb used as a tea.

if you google this you'll find a ton of info. here's a little something i found quick quick;

Nettles have a long history of use in the home as a herbal remedy and nutritious addition to the diet. The Nettle has long been valued as a medicinal and nutritional treasure.

Nettle is rich in chlorophyll, and a good source of beta carotene; vitamins A, C, and E; tannins; iron; calcium; silicon; potassium; phosphates; and various other minerals. Rich in iron vital to circulation and helpful in high blood pressure.

Nettle leaf has recently become a popular treatment for allergies based on one preliminary study. Nettle leaf is highly nutritious, and in cooked form may be used as a general dietary supplement.

It is said that the "sting of the nettle is but nothing compared to the pains that it heals".

Nettle is safe to administer during pregnancy and helps to keep the blood rich and used if anemia occurs during pregnancy.

O.k. I did google eating raw nettles and found a wonderful site that told how to eat them. I am not so brave but trying to just take that setp on the wild side.
Here is what they said

So how to eat nettles raw? Don't be afraid - they're your friend. The spines that inject formic acid causing the sting are on the upper side of the leaf and not on the underside. So I pick a leaf from underneath, fold it in half along its length and continue folding it until none of the upperside of the leaf or its edge is exposed. I then squeeze the little leaf package to break the spines and pop it in between my teeth (ensuring the leaf parcel does not unfold in my mouth) and immediately begin to chew. It has a wonderful flavour and substantial quality. Another technique is to pick a leaf, roll it together so the upperside is not exposed and then rub it between the palms to break the spines before popping in the mouth. And nettles can be juiced! The leaves can also be used for herbal tea and as a medicine, and the stalks can be used to make cordage and cloth. What a versatile and wonderful plant - become intimate with nettles today!

Nettles are fantastically high in vitamins A and C, and rich in nutrients, including calcium, choline, magnesium, boron, iron, iodine, silica, sulfur, potassium, chlorophyll, histamine, serotonin, glucoquinones, bioflavonoids, tannins and amino acids. They're unusually high in protein (40%) for a plant. And because they're so nutrient-dense, they make a good overall tonic for strengthening the body. Useful in treating anemia, their high vitamin C content helps ensure that the iron is properly absorbed by the body.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/2008 07:17PM by pampam.

check this out!!! [www.youtube.com]

maui_butterfly, I was thinking about yardsnacker's video when I read this thread, too! If anyone didn't watch it, it's great! Sam is a funny guy!

XOXO

maui-butterfly that u-tube was real great. Thanks a bunch. I also found some more information on the nettle. Still havent walked back to eat a leaf. I just remember so many times getting stung by them. Its a super food loaded with minerals and high in magnesium. I am getting curious on how it tastes. Its really raining right now I mean pouring down so I am just chillin inside thinking of eating those nettle leaves. They arnt moving anywhere right now.

pampam, if you are drawn to them that much, I hope you'll try them and let us know what you think.

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXO

Not exactly "drawn" to them but they are growing in my back yard. I have heard they might be as bennificial as wheat grass.

wow, what's the obsession with jamming as much stuff as possible into a smoothie? that's way too many ingredients for me, two or three is my max.

haha, coco, i thought it was a little superfood happy myself. such an easy trap to fall into. it appeals i think to the Bigger! Faster! Better! More! character of our culture. regular ol' healthy isn't good enough. its gotta be SUPER.

i think Regular is Super.

nettle tea is good. Mum put some in my bath when I had chicken pox as a child and the itching magically went away. It's great to relief itch.

ya, i take that less is more attitude a lot myself. for sure that extra-super-plus healthy smoothie idea is popular but it's just so.darn.much.stuff! how does the body actually cope with all of that in there? people say "energy", i say "over stimulated". well, to each their own.

we have an abundance of nettles at the cottage that we usually cut back so the kids don't get into it but this year i think we might just make some juice with them. why the heck not, eh? seems like a fun thing to do. a little apple nettle liquor? betcha the kids like it too. i'll call it "shrek juice" or some such nastiness and dole it out to the neighbourhood kiddos. heh. health by stealth.
maybe i'll even make it into popsicles, the kids are always coming over to steal those out of my freezer. that would be so cool!

I found out that nettles boiled and the liquid juice is used as a hair rinse. I remember we cut down a bunch of them and they dryed so the horse ate them. He got a real shiney coat that year and was real fat. I also read that the nettles are a sort of energy booster so I think it would be best to eat them in the morning. Rain or shine I am going to run out back and grab some leaves to eat. I'll tell ya all about it tomorrow.

wear gloves, Wear Gloves!!

i forgot about nettle hair rinse. it's for dark hair, makes it super shiny and boosts the colour too.

Yeah, where gloves when you pick them. Juicing or blending gets rid of the sting.

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

We take loads of nettles, almost daily! We juice them sometimes, but more often they go in green smoothies. My personal favorite is a green nettle smoothie with cayenne and apple, delicious! Very strengthening and energizing. I have some beds in the garden, and by cutting them frequently we always have young tops the year round.

Please only take the young tops!!! The older leaves and stems have a type of harmful crystals. Also never use the plants once they are flowering.

Greenpower

Visit my website and my blog!

[www.natureshealingsecrets.com] (closed on Sundays)

I just went back and pinched off two leaves and ate them. they were very green tasting yet good. Since it is spring they are about a foot tall but the leaves are large and green. I tryed to pinch a small leaf on the top but it stung me, it seems to have stingers all around it so I went back to the house and got snippers and a paper bag and cut about seven stalks and made a smoothie with a banana and some frozen strawberries. It was somewhat green tasting I think I will try the apple in it tomorrow. I feel just fine and happy to know there is some free food growing in my back yard.

Green power, I heard about the older leaves I am going to have to find that site I read and post it here. I read the roots are a good healing food but to not eat to much of them.

Yesterday, after having my nettle smoothie I had a good amount of energy. I gave a small amount of smoothie ( thats all he would take) to a friend who usually only drinks cola and eats hot dogs, he was very energetic and said he sure did not feel a need for coffee that day. I read some more about nettles and it said the nettles are not only rich in minerals and vitamins but the young ones have "free amino acids" which are uncommitted amino acids in nettle sap, waiting for anticipated rapid growth and when we eat fresh live nettles we get those amino acids for our own protein repairs and nreplacement. Appairantly its not uncommon for people to feel real happy from eating nettles.
Today I am going to try a smoothie with nettles and apples. I will try to coax my family to eat some as well.

amazing! i love this story!

pampam,

May I please have permission to copy your comment to share with yardsnacker (they guy in the first video posted on this thread)?

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

no problem, wendi you can use what ever you want. I ended up cutting just the tips of the nettles and blending it with some black berries and banana. I put honey in it for my friend so it was to sweet for my tast but I drank it any way. I don't like the black berries in it becxause of the seeds from the berries. I feel fine with no noticable sighns of anything. I did give a couple of tasts to my grand baby that was all he wanted and he started running around the house. He usually runs around the house though but he seemed happy. My friend did not take it this time he said he felt the novilty was over and drank his coffee instead. I cant get any more family members to try it, they all call me an old hippy now and shy away from my food.
I read also to use mature leavs and stalks fresh or dried in hot soaks to give relief for joint pain and gout. All around it seems nettles are a wonderful plant. and I have it in my back acres, just to think I use to weed wack them down to get rid of them now I want to keep a patch for food. I don't know how its done but I guess the stalks can be used to make material and rope. The plant is a reletive to hemp.

I found some more about nettles I thought I would share. It included a recipe that can be altered for us.



Home | Cedar Mountain Herb School | Plant Talks | Newsletter | Articles | Calendar | Testimonials | Recipes | Links | Online Store
Nettles
Nettles… Urtica dioica. Dioica meaning "of two houses." This common species of nettles has male flowers on separate stems above female flowers. Nettles grow in rich, moist soil along year round desert sagebrush streams, up on the passes, in farmers' fields, down to the ocean forests. The key words here are wet and moist soil. Nettles have squarish stems and opposite leaves like the plants in the mint family, look like a giant mint plant on steroids, but they are not in the mint family… just to be confusing.

Hollow hairs which cover the underside of the leaves and stems of the plant and sporadically on the top of the leaves contain a collection of acids, causing the "sting" for which they are so famous. Nettles' constituents include ascorbic acids, histamine, choline, vitamins A and D, iron, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium and silica. The plants are best harvested before they flower. Ingesting nettles gathered after flowering can cause uncomfortable digestive upsets.

Nettles make a superb "compost tea" for our garden and house plants being so high in nitrogen.

Nettles, eaten freely and drunk as a tea, feed our adrenals and kidneys, help to heal and strengthen the lung tissue and intestines, tonify the arteries, nourishes the hair, helps to promote lots of rich milk in lactating mothers, and can even help prevent and stop seasonal pollen based allergy attacks.

Dry the plants for infusions later in the season. Add dried nettles in your spaghetti sauce, soups, beans and stews for their superb mineral and vitamin content.



A few years back, I had a urinary tract infection that lasted only 3 days because I immediately drank a quart of strong nettle decoction upon feeling the "burn." Knowing that I was using the last of my dried nettles gathered the last year, I reached into my freezer and took out and drank the quart jar of juiced nettles and horsetail that was just waiting for the perfect use. Quick and easy!

>Nettle stalks may be used dried or fresh to be twisted into a remarkably strong twine. The natives of the north pacific coast used nettle twine woven into nets to catch fish.

Nettle Pesto Recipe

4 cups fresh nettle tops
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts or walnuts
6-8 cloves garlic
1/4 cup romano or parmesan cheese (optional)

Put all ingredients in Vitamix or food processor and process until creamy. What an incredible taste! Not only is it good on the traditional pasta, but the pesto is a wonderful spread on toast or crackers. It freezes well without the cheese, this can be added later.


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Nettles are 'very' energizing and strengthening. It is great for fatigue and exhaustion. A super substitute for coffee indeed.

Greenpower

Visit my website and my blog!

[www.natureshealingsecrets.com] (closed on Sundays)

Well, the first day I ate two nettle leaves and blended a bunch with some fruit. At that time a friend who usually eats hotdogs and coca cola drank a short glass of the green smoothie. He reported a noticable high energy level that day. I felt a high energy level as well but I noticed I also displayed a somewhat short temper that day which is not my normal disposition. I made another smoothie the next day but my friend declined a drink. I felt the same energy boast but I also noticed a increase in my appitite and a short temper. The energy boast is not like drinking coffee or other stimulients though and I don't have the urge to over eat the nettles like it was an iddictive product. I did not eat any nettles the next day. On the fourth day I decided to juice the nettles mixed with some apple and carrot. The juice tasted good but I really did not want to drink a large glass of it and drink it all only because I did not want to waist it. My unhealthy friend drank a small 6 oz glass. He felt a increase of energy and reported a disruption of sleap. He also said he felt the effects the next day as well. I also felt the same effects from nettles and felt my sleap was disrupted. I did not feel a restfull sleap but tossed and turned all night. the next day I had to go pee constantly {nettles are a duretic} One thing I did notice was a healing of a spot on my right hand that is some sort of dry flakey area that cracks and hurts at times I have had the spot for over three years and this last week of eating the nettles I have noticed that it looks smaller and better. I have read nettles brink on some sort of healing of wounds and bones. I don't know what an appropriate amount of nettles should be but I think I have been eating perhaps to much of them.

Holy cow. I want to go hunting for some nettles!! *drool*

I think that they can actually sting the inside of your mouth if you just plain chomp 'em. But you can put them in a green smoothie for sure!

be beautiful, I looked at a couple u-tube flicks on nettles and braved it to go outside and went under the leaf and folded it like a taco because the stingers are on the top of the leaf. I popped it in my mouth and ate it just like that. I guess you can squish the leaf so you can put it in a salad. Beware of the very top leaves thugh I got stung by them and it hurt for three days.