Products & Uses for Stinging Nettles

Nettles as Food

• Nettle leaves in the kitchen are cooked like spinach. They can be simmered for a few minutes in a soup, cooked in a pot using just the water clinging to the leaves, or sauteed with onion and finished off with a little cream. You'll benefit from a rich array of nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, silica, iodine, silicon, sodium, and sulfur, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and B complex vitamins. They are unusually rich in protein for a vegetable. Cooking deactivates the stinging hairs on the leaves, but fresh nettles should always be handled with care to avoid painful stings.
  
  

Nettle Tea

• Nettle tea is made with either fresh or dried nettles simply by steeping a handful of leaves in freshly boiled water. The taste is a touch sour, but not at all pungent or sharp. It combines very well with other common garden herbs such as mint, lemon balm and chamomile. Nettle tea has long been used for rebuilding the vital forces of chronically ill patients, and as a tonic for anyone who feels run-down or tired.
  
  

Nettle Cloth

• The long, fibrous stems of nettles were once used extensively in Europe for making cloth, rope and paper. Extracting the useful fiber requires a process of stripping the outer layer from the stem, drying it and then soaking it, similar to the steps in processing hemp or flax. The resulting yarn is woven into a durable, sturdy, eco-friendly fabric that is much stronger than linen.
  
  

Nettles as Medicine

• The substances that cause the dreaded "stinging" in nettles may actually be the most beneficial of all. Tiny hairs on nettle leaves and stems contain formic acid, acetylcholine, histamine, serotonin and unidentified compounds. Freeze-drying and juicing are the best way to preserve these substances, which may provide relief for those with hay fever, allergies, asthma, chronic coughs and bronchitis. Researchers are experimenting with treatments for a variety of other ailments, including using the root of the plant to treat prostate cancer.