A nettle (urtica dioica) is very popular plant which can be found in every back yard. We’ve spent hours and hours trying to get rid off her, and we weren’t aware of her true value and usefulness. It isn’t matter if it is about organic agriculture, every day kitchen or popular medicine (because of its’ therapeutic characteristics).There are no special rules for collecting nettles – you can pick whole plant – from early spring till late autumn. If you want to use roots, you can gather them in early spring, or in fall; leaves are collected in early spring (when nettle is still young) and seeds are picked up in August and September. Dry it in shade.
Nettle has many therapeutic features – it is very rich with iron so it is recommended to anaemic people because it helps regenerating blood. People who are recovering, parturient women and week children should use nettles because of its invigorating characteristics. It’s hard to list all the difficulties nettles can help and ease, but I’ll try to count just few of them.
Seeds and leaves are used against diarrhoea. Gout, all kind of kidney diseases, hepatitis and all sorts of haemorrhage are healed with nettles. Nettles are used for helping intestine’s ruptures and due to the fact nettle helps cell regeneration it is recommended for those who suffer from exhausted gristle.
Nettle calms down nerves, it is great for respiratory system; she disinfects our mouth cavity and it is known that nettle helps with fighting against dandruff.
Nettle in the kitchen can offer us many tasty and healthy dishes and you can combine it with mangel, spinach, potatoes and similar caterers. It isn’t matter if you were to prepare cream soup or dumplings just try to include nettles in your kitchen as much as it is possible.
Organic agriculture is getting more and more space and it has become serious branch of today’s agriculture. All amateur gardeners (including myself) use nettle preparations as good and effective manure and as an aid in fighting all kind of aphides.
So, instead of trying to destroy nettles, use all the benefits she can give you.
Mangel and nettles
Ingredients:
(for 6 persons)
600 grams of mangel
400 grams of nettles
250 grams of potatoes
3 garlic cloves
salt
pepper
olive oil
Description:
Boil cleaned mangel, nettles and potatoes in salted water. Rinse it and spat it, add garlic and spice it with salt, pepper and olive oil. Mix it and serve warm.
3 comments :
"Healing flame" is a good title. I have been trying to rid our property of nettles by pulling them up and delaying their growth - not stopping it. Interesting what you have to say about cooking them. What does "spat" mean by the way. I'm not familiar with the term. I live in Oregon, USA. Thanks, Jeanne
Hello Jeanne!
I'm glad you like this post, and "to spat" means to lather or to beat - and, in cooking - when you mix something very strong and tough.
By the way - I visited your blogs and they are very interesting, pictures are great - I'll surely come back :-)
It's funny because I was talking to my husband about nettles being edible just the other day. It hurts and itches when it stings you, but I've heard how wonderful it is for health including clearing acne. I've never eaten it, but there are certain regions in Turkey where they cook it.
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