{"id":1799,"date":"2019-09-18T23:26:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T23:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/?p=1799"},"modified":"2019-09-18T23:26:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T23:26:34","slug":"stinging-nettle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/18\/stinging-nettle\/","title":{"rendered":"Stinging Nettle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Urtica dioica<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout                                                    \nUrticaceae<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stinging Nettle has all of the attributes of a valuable\nwild food plant. It is highly nutritious, easy to identify, doesn’t resemble\nany poisonous plants, is widely distributed, very vigorous and often available\nin abundance. It also tastes good enough to have been cultivated as a food\ncrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The specific name is derived from the Latin word Ure,\nmeaning burn, while the common name Nettle is from the Anglo Saxon word for\nneedle. These names are a good clue to the plants most obvious asset (as is the\nword \u201cstinging\u201d of course. The Nettle is covered in tiny hollow hairs which act\nlike hypodermic needles. When these are \nbrushed against they inject a stinging substance containing formic acid.\nFor this reason the plant is avoided by most mammalian herbivores (though not\ninsects, it is a very important food plant for many of them).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sting of the Nettle is unpleasant, but usually wears off\nfairly quickly and it is a lot less irritating than Poison Ivy. Apparently some\ntropical Nettles can immobilize one for days and perhaps even kill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutrients: The Nettle has a good reason for\nprotecting itself as it does: this tasty herb is one of the most nutritious of\nall green plants. It contains more protein than almost any other green leaf,\nlarge amounts of chlorophyll, vitamin A, several B’s, lots of C and D and an\nabundance of minerals including calcium, iron (one of the richest plant\nsources), manganese, phosphorus, potassium, silicon and sulfur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gathering greens: The drawback to the use of\nNettles as food is that they are only edible when young, for a short time in\nearly to late spring. Not only does the plant get tough as summer progresses,\nbut inedible crystal deposits form in the leaves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need to\nprotect your hand when gathering, so wear gloves (or anything that comes to\nhand). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing greens: Obviously this ferocious\nplant can’t be eaten raw, but it actually takes only a few seconds of cooking\nto render the sting impotent and only a few minutes of boiling, steaming or\nstir-frying are necessary to produce an excellent potherb. The greens can be used as a\nsubstitute for Spinach in any recipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dried powdered\nleaves have been added to bread, soups and sauces to increase their nutritional\nvalue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winter greens: The roots have been taken\nindoors in autumn and forced like Chicory to produce winter greens (see Cicorium<\/em>\nfor more on forcing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drink: The dried leaves can also be used to\nmake a nutritious tea. This is usually mixed with tastier herbs, to improve its\nflavor. In Europe the young leaves are used to make a very palatable soft drink\ncalled Nettle Beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rennet: Fresh Nettle juice has been\nused like rennet for making cheese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medicine: The plant has traditionally been\nused as a detoxifying spring tonic, so it’s interesting that it contains secretin,\na substance that helps the bowels to eliminate mucus. It has also been used to\ntreat arthritis and gout.  It was thought\nto stimulate the kidneys, gall bladder, prostate gland, liver and digestive\ntract. The greens are a mild laxative and its high nutritive value makes it a\nuseful food for invalids and those suffering from anemia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fresh juice and\npowdered leaves have been used externally as a styptic wound herb. The sting\nwas thought to be beneficial for treating rheumatism, stiff muscles and\nfrostbite. Freeze dried nettles has been found to reduce the symptoms of hay\nfever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nettle rash: The plant is frequently the cause of injury in\nthe form of Nettle rash. The traditional treatment for this is to rub the\naffected area with the crushed leaves of soothing plants, such as Dock (Rumex<\/em>),\nJewelweed (Impatiens<\/em>), or Mugwort (Artemisia<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fiber: Nettle is closely related to Indian\nHemp (Apocynum<\/em>) and like that plant it is an excellent source of fiber\nfor cordage, rope, netting, paper, sail\ncloth, sack cloth and even fine fabrics (it was said\nto be better than Flax). The fibers can be extracted and prepared in the same\nway as Flax (Linum<\/em>). Nettles were among the most important fiber plants\nfor Native Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Animal food: For obvious reasons\nanimals avoid fresh Nettles, but the dried plants lose their sting and are a\nvaluable animal feed. Nettle hay is actually too rich in protein (about 25% dry\nweight) to be used alone, so is added to other feed as a nutritional\nsupplement. It is said to increase the disease resistance, weight and general\nhealth of cows, poultry and most other animals. Gypsies once fed Nettles to\nhorses to improve their appearance prior to sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shampoo: Nettle tea makes a good\nhair rinse (sometimes mixed with vinegar), to add shine\nand body and remove dandruff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other uses: The dark green leaves have been\nused as a green dye and as a\ncommercial source of chlorophyll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companion Plant: Stinging Nettle is considered to be one of the\nbest companion plants for the garden. When grown with aromatic herbs such as\nValerian and Mint, it is said to increase their production of aromatic oils. It\nis also believed to make neighboring plants more resistant to disease and attacks\nby insect pests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultivation: With so many valuable uses for\nthe plants, they are well worth having around the garden. It has occasionally\nbeen cultivated as a perennial potherb. If you are lucky you will have it (or a\nRelated species)\ngrowing nearby, in which case you can divide and transplant some (or take root\ncuttings), otherwise you will have to grow your own from seed. The plants like\nrich moist soil and will grow in full sun or deep shade. Their high chlorophyll\ncontent enables them to grow with as little as ten percent of daylight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nettles can\nbe invasive, so it is best to put them somewhere they can be allowed to run\nwild and won’t sting too many people. It has been suggested as a possible cover\ncrop for orchards. An ingenious gardener might use the plant to deter\nintruders, especially children, or to keep people from getting too near\nespecially cherished plantings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fertilizer: Stinging Nettles love nitrogen rich soils\nand often their presence indicates the site of old human habitations, such as\nanimal pens, dung heaps or abandoned privies. The plant enriches the soil it\ngrows in, as its leaf litter decays into especially rich humus (with an\nabundance of nitrogen, potassium and other minerals). It was once said that you\nshould plant fruit trees where Nettles grow abundantly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biodynamic gardeners have an especially high regard for the plant and\nuse it in many of their formulations. You can make an excellent liquid\nfertilizer from Nettles (See Symphytum<\/em> for the details of this). The\nsame liquid (or the whole plant) is said to stimulate fermentation in the\ncompost pile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related\nspecies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All native Urtica<\/em> species can\nbe used in the same ways, though they may not be as good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U. lyalli<\/em> \u2011 Tall Nettle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The roots\nof this species are edible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Urtica dioica Throughout                                                     Urticaceae The Stinging Nettle has all of the attributes of a valuable wild food plant. It is highly nutritious, easy to identify, doesn’t resemble any poisonous plants, … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-useful-weeds","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Nettle.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1801,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions\/1801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmanpublishing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}