One of natures great cleansers is stinging nettles. Nettles grow wild here in Oregon every spring, in places like empty fields, along walking paths and even golf courses. Oregonians gather them up and make concoctions of tea, broth for soup, and my favorite, nettle fritters. You can do it too even if they don’t grow wild in your area you can use nettle tea to make soup broth and tea, both of which work very well for cleansing and detoxing.
If you do find them in the wild or buy them at a local market make sure to wear thick gloves when working with them as they have loads of stingers that will sting you (thus the name), and the stinging lasts for a good 20-30 minutes.
- Stinging nettle’s leaves and root provide a wide variety of nutrients, including
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- Vitamins: Vitamins A, C, & K, as well as several B vitamins
- Minerals: Calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and sodium
- Fats: Linoleic acid, linolenic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, and oleic acid
- Amino acids: All of the essential amino acids
- Polyphenols: Kaempferol, quercetin, caffeic acid, coumarins, and other flavonoids
- Pigments: Beta-carotene, lutein, luteoxanthin and other carotenoids
What’s more, many of these nutrients act as antioxidants inside your body.
- May Reduce Inflammation. …
- May Treat Enlarged Prostate Symptoms. …
- May Treat Hay Fever. …
- May Lower Blood Pressure. …
- May Aid Blood Sugar Control
*This information was taken from the website healthline.com, the links in this post will take you there for more information.
Now for the good stuff, how to use stinging nettles. I like to make a broth from some of them by rinsing them well (using gloves) and then putting them in a pot of water, just enough to cover them. Bring them to a boil and simmer them for 20-30 minutes, strain out the nettles and use as a base for any vegetable soup. It works great as a base for an Asian Pho or other noodle soup. I also like to use it in beef stew, minestrone, and beans and greens. It really adds a richness to these soups.
Don’t throw away the greens you can use them for other things.
**If you only have the dried herb or tea you can do a similar thing with it but you aren’t going to want to save the strained herb for future use.
You can use the cooked herb in any of the soups or in a casserole and for making pesto or substitute it for cooked spinach in a quiche or spinach squares. Make sure to trim out the thick stems before using them.
Fritters:
To make Fritters, you will want to chop up the raw nettles and mix them with chopped onion, egg, bread crumbs, and seasonings then fry them out in a bit of avocado oil. This recipe makes 8 good size fritters.
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup minced onion
2 eggs
2/3 cup parmesan cheese (the kind in the shaker container)
1/2 to 2/3 cup chopped nettles (cleaned and trimmed off of stem)
salt and pepper to taste
other seasonings to add might be (cumin garlic, and cayenne) or go Italian with a ready-made Italian seasoning.
*Add only enough water to moisten and create a mixture that can be spooned into a pan like a thick cornbread batter.
Heat a skillet over medium heat, when hot, add enough avocado oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Spoon the fritter batter by heaping tablespoons into the hot oil and fry until golden on each side.
For tea you will need:
- ½ liter water
- One hand of fresh stinging nettles
Directions:
Boil the nettles for 2 minutes and then let it steep for 5 minutes. Drink it cold or warm.
Enjoy!
Cherrypielady 