I won't be very popular with this post because it's not about some fancy exotic fruit or some good looking vegetable you can buy on every corner. It's just nettle that most of us look at as weed, something you don't need and can't get rid of.
Nettle, stinging nettle, urtica dioica, csalán in Hungarian, urzică in Romanian, pokrzywa zwyczajna in Polish.
I grew up knowing that nettle sting. As kinds we often came home with the burning sensation after carelessly stepped or fell into a bunch of nettles. It's a very unpleasant feeling but it's not deadly :D I grew up eating nettle soup. My mother and grandmother always prepared us soup which I love, my brother prefers nettle pottage. My grandfather gave it to the pigs and they loved it. My father's neighbor gave some nettle to the pigs and they didn't like it. Nowadays pigs are picky too. :)
Nettle has a long history of use as a source of medicine, food, and fiber, it is rich in vitamins A and C, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium. According to Wikipedia, in its peak season, nettle contains up to 25% protein, dry weight, which is high for a leafy green vegetable.
There are many types of nettle but today I'm going to show you only three. That's how many I could find around the house and at the neighbors.
This is the urtica dioica, often called common nettle or stinging nettle and this is the one I like and eat. Sometimes I see some at the market at a high price but I love to forage it myself. Nettle growes everywhere, does not need care. I see it very often here in the city but there is pollution here, so I'd rather forage it at my father's.
This is the purple deadnettle which is kind of cute with those tiny purple flowers and if you have a closer look you see that those tiny leaves on top are also purple. I don't eat this although it's eatable. Young plants have edible tops and leaves, used in salads or in stir-fry as a spring vegetable. If finely chopped it can also be used in sauces.
This is the white dead nettle or just the white nettle. I don't eat this either. White nettle is believed to have astringent, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, and soothing properties, it can be helpful in treating diarrhea, hemorrhoids and varicose veins. It is thought to nourish and have overall positive effect on the urinary tract system and it has been used as a natural treatment for urinary tract infections and difficulty with urination in both women and men. A tea made from the dried leaves of white dead nettle has been used as an expectorant agent, cough suppressant and to soothe minor inflammation of the mucosa of the mouth and the pharynx (a membrane-lined cavity behind the nose and mouth). Externally, the plant has been used as a home remedy for skin rashes, eczema and acne.
Long story short, none of our neighbors eat nettle and I bet it's the same in the village. I asked permission to forage the nettles and they were amazed. I could read on your face what they were thinking. "Look at this city woman, eating nettle!" Good thing that they didn't read my mind. I was thinking of how they have a healthy plant with a high nutrition value full of vitamins for free and they are treating it as weed. Pollution is minimal there, so I took my gloves and secateurs and went out foraging. I managed to get two huge buckets full of nettles and only harvested the top of the plants, that's the best part of it.
And finally, my nettle soup. It doesn't look very good, it doesn't qualify for a magazine but it tastes heavenly good. Cooked nettle is a great source of vitamins A, C, protein and iron.
First of all, make sure you wear gloves! Just clean the nettle, wash it, then add it to boiling water. Add some salt, 4 - 5 cloves of garlic and let it cook for 15 - 20 minutes. Mix some flour and red paprika with 1 - 2 tablespoon of oil, add it to the soup and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Vitamin A is fat soluble, so make sure you use some oil. Vitamin C is water soluble, so the soup is a good option. You can make a cream soup but I prefer it as it is. This is the vegetarian version.
My other favorite is the nettle tea. Nettle tea is very good for allergies, especially hay fever. Roughly 7.8% of people 18 and over in the U.S. have hay fever. Worldwide, allergic rhinitis affects between 10% and 30 % of the population. Stinging nettle’s anti-inflammatory qualities affect a number of key receptors and enzymes in allergic reactions, preventing hay fever symptoms if taken when they first appear.
I can't finish my post without mentioning cosmetic products with nettle extract: hair care, skincare, all you want.
I could go on and on about nettle but I'll stop here. If you like my post, you'll google it and see it for yourself how good nettle is. I hope after reading this you are going to look at nettle in a different way :)
This is my contribution to #fruitsandveggiesmonday hosted buy our lovely friend Lena, @lenasveganliving. You can read more about it HERE
I'm also supporting The Make It Healthy Project, run by our dear friend @woman-onthe-wing. Read the latest edition here: The Make It Healthy Project MAGAZINE: Issue #5 - NEW Graphics & Categories! (Lots more to digest!)