stinging nettle help- THANKYOU

[opie744]

We cache'd this morning and right into a huge patch of stinging nettle. Lucky, I saw it right away and told the daughter that was suffering, to use the yellow flower that grows near, just like you guys said and it took the sting away!!!! THANK YOU- I'm sending you a big, fat kiss. We have 4 young girls and we would have all walked into it if you wouldn't have informed us so well. Our morning would have been wrecked.

[+trippy1976]

It was news to me, but you can boil and eat nettles. Some people find them rather tasty I guess.

 

Dinoprophet cooked and ate one in his front yard the other day. If I remeber right, he gave it mixed reviews. Boiled alone wasn't great, but he made a tea from another recipe and said it was quite tasty.

 

I've heard this isn't a foreign concept to the Europeans among us, but I'd never in my life heard of it

 

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trippy1976 - Team KKF2A

Saving geocaches - one golf ball at a time.

[+briansnat]

I was told there is often jewelweed near stinging nettles and the juice squeezed from a jewelweed stalk and applied to your skin will alleviate the itching for an hour or two.

 

Worked for me.

 

[This message was edited by BrianSnat on August 09, 2003 at 04:43 AM.]

[The Falcon]

Is that why bars are often next to churches?

 

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It is the tale, not he who tells it."

[Dinoprophet]

That's right, after a nettle in my garden got me on the finger, I decided to have my revenge and eat the sucker.

 

I boiled mine, which of course didn't taste so great. Wet greens, bleh. I drank the water I boiled it in, though, and it was *really* good tea. It tasted kind of like camomile, but not as strong. I understand steaming them works well. Basically, treat them like spinach. But cook them to neutralize the sting.

 

I've even seen recipes for nettle beer on the net.

 

Well the mountain was so beautiful that this guy built a mall and a pizza shack

Yeah he built an ugly city because he wanted the mountain to love him back -- Dar Williams

[+Web-ling]

quote:

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Originally posted by The Falcon:

Is that why bars are often next to churches?

---

Maybe the other way around.

 

[+Lone Duck]

I still wear long pants in the brush just for that reason. They also provide protection from other stuff, such as poison ivy.

 

That Quack Cacher:

Lone Duck

 

When you don't know where you're going, every road will take you there.

[+Planet]

Why just boil the nettles when you can serve them in a fine dish like this? : Chicken Livers with Stinging Nettles and Pine Kernels

 

or cooked like so: Cooked Stinging Nettles

2 to 3 cups boiling water

1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh chopped onion

1 pinch sea salt and pepper or lemon pepper

3 cups chopped stinging nettles

butter

fresh lemon or lime juice or vinegar

 

Bring water to boil. Put in chopped onion and salt. Add chopped nettles, pick the top 4-6 inches of young spring nettles for best results. Boil the greens until they no longer have their stinging qualities, about 5 minutes. Drain off liquid. Serve hot and onions topped with butter, several drops of lemon juice, and season to taste.

More recipes for wild plants are on this site.

Cache you later,

Planet

 

So many caches, so little time.

[+sept1c_tank]

...Chop the nettles and boil them so they no longer have their stinging qualities...???

 

Will you chop them for me?...I'll boil some water.

 

==============="If it feels good...do it"================

 

**(the other 9 out of 10 voices in my head say: "Don't do it.")**

 

.

[+carleenp]

quote:

---

I drank the water I boiled it in, though, and it was *really* good tea.

---

 

I have been told from other sources too that it makes nice tea.

 

Planet: Thanks for the info. I'll try it if I get brave enough. My question is: How do you pick the nettles to begin with? Gloves and grab the stalk? Seems that getting them chopped and into the pot without sting could be the challenge!

 

[+arrowroot]

Stinging nettles are really not that big a deal. It's just a little formic acid. Some folks will have some swelling and serious irritation, others will just hurt a bit.

 

For me, a quick wash with soap and water pretty much neutralizes it. My wife, though reacts much stronger.

 

In either case, its effects are gone within a day, at most.

 

Take poison ivy much more seriously.

 

I am Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt. I have many names, you know

[Cloak_N_Dagger]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dinoprophet:

I boiled mine, which of course didn't taste so great. Wet greens, bleh. I drank the water I boiled it in, though, and it was *really* good tea. It tasted kind of like camomile, but not as strong. I understand steaming them works well. Basically, treat them like spinach. But cook them to neutralize the sting.

---

 

Dino, don't give up on 'em after one try. You have to gather them early in the season while they are still tender to make greens. Gather the tops before they bloom and you'll like them much better. Toss in some onions or better yet ... some "ramps", (wild leeks) to season them with. Drain and add a shot of vinegar, and a dash of salt.

 

When I was a kid, "Stingin' weed tea" was often used by some of the old timers for aches and pains.

 

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Changing some folks mind, is like trying to herd cats.