Cooking with Nettles
What to eat in an economic downturn….
If, like me you are sat in a dark room, save the light from your computer screen with no heating on, a stale biscuit for dinner and you’ve decanted Blue Nun into an empty bottle of Sancerre to make you feel better then you might find this post useful.
We are, apparently, all doomed.You can’t get a mortgage, if you have one it’s not worth anything, credit cards are maxed out, utility bills are at an all time high and the cost of fuel in particular has sent our food bills up. For many in Britain the future is uncertain and a close watch on spending is now inevitable.
Thankfully, I am still a member of the Sancerre drinking club but the lights are off! Dinner was a fiery beef curry and all is well here, touch wood. I live to my means and enjoy cooking on a self imposed budget which, although not financially nessceccary is much more interesting.
So in light of the forthcoming downturn in everything here’s how to eat well for free, load yourself with essential vitamins and minerals and eat seasonally all at the same time!
Now is the time for nettles, they grow in abundance everywhere. We’ve all fallen (or were you pushed?) into a bush of them as kids, or adults (me) and cursed them as usesless as wasps. Not so! wasps yes, nettles no. Picking nettles is an easy introduction into foraging from the wild larder and who is going to tell you off for picking them?
When everyone talked about Heston Blumenthal’s radical snail porridge Samuel Pepys had dined out on nettle porridge back in 1661 and because of it(?) lived through the Great Plague and Great Fire of London-fact (sort of)
Nettles should be picked, and most certainly washed afterwards whilst still young, think asparagus season (april-may) once the leaves become coarse they are good for nothing other than stinging you or leaving you at a hundred miles an hour should you eat some.
Soup is perhaps the obvious recipe, they have a high chlorophyll content and correct cooking results in a vivid green bowl of goodness. I’ve used them in the past as a puree, hot or cold it is particularly good with meat. Other notable uses are in pasta and gnocchi recipes where the leaves have to be blanched first.
Cooking removes the sting from the leaves, pick only the young, tender ones and blanch them in rapidly boiling, salted water for a minute before refreshing in ice cold water. If you are making soup then add the picked and washed leaves to a basic potato and leek soup recipe, just reduce the quantity of leeks. Don’t overcook or the colour (and goodness) will be lost.
There you have it, free food on your doorstep. Give it a go.
Miles,
I’m worried about where the sting goes…. is it all up in the atmosphere ready to descend? Global stinging, that’s what we should be researching
Here’s what I found about nettles according to one site …
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The University of Plymouth has proved that the stinging nettle can have a beneficial effect on arthritis sufferers (osteoarthritis), confirming folk law dating back to Roman times, which suggested flogging with nettles (Urtication) as a cure for chronic rheumatism.
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Nettle products include soup, tea, nettle pudding, porridge, beer, Yarg cheese (which is wrapped in nettles), paper, cloth dye (which is yellow, and comes from the root).
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Nettles provide a source of food for caterpillars, some of which feed exclusively on the nettle. It is also a food source for a wide variety of insects, including ladybirds, and, according to hdra.org.uk, supports 107 species.
Carol Chittock of the Diss Hedgehog Advisory Centre suggests you ‘leave a small area natural so that the wild grass grows, stinging nettles as well, because butterflies like stinging nettles to lay their eggs on. The eggs then turn in to caterpillars, and hedgehogs love caterpillars.’
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Nettles act as an accelerator for compost, and a rich source of nitrogen and minerals. Plus it’s a source of vitamin A and C.
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Nettles are alleged to be anti-inflammatory (and generally helpful with all skin conditions), antiparasitic, antiseptic, a digestive stimulant, and a menstrual promoter. It may cure rheumatism, arthritis muscle wastage problems, inflammation and, bizarrely, head lice. If it fails to remove the lice, it could still stimulate hair growth. The nettle has been used medicinally by the Greeks and later the Romans. In fact, it has been alleged to cure almost everything.
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The nettle does not shed enough pollen to be a major cause of hay fever.
Time to invent a long arm nettle grappler me thinks…
Cid
April 15, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
Miles,
Like Cid you made you look again at the said benefits of the nettle. Nature conservationists have asked us for a long time to set asside a small area in the garden for wild plants, including the nettle. I wonder how many people are actually prepared to have a wild patch? I suppose it will come down to the size available. I keep some out of sight behind a shed and birds always seem to fly into that area.
I shall look out for some young shoots in the countryside and keep a pair of gloves at the ready.
Elsie
April 15, 2008 @ 7:25 pm
Cid,
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Great minds think alike. A good list. I wonder if the sting of the nettle beats the pain of arthritis and is therefore beneficial? I don’t quite see myself lying on a bed of nettles somehow. I thing a sunbed in Tenerife might be more beneficial
Elsie
April 15, 2008 @ 7:29 pm
Cid,
I am quietly confident my staff are dreading me putting nettles back on the menu-I’m sure they would be interested in the long arm grappler-probably to grab me by the throat with!
Miles
April 15, 2008 @ 10:05 pm
Elsie,
Should we be putting ourselves forward as hedgerow gatherers to the restaurant trade? We could be paid in Spa vouchers (probably worth pointing out that we mean Champney’s and not the corner shop
) I’ll leave it in the hands of the Fair Trade Nettle Pickers Association to negotiate a decent wage…
Cid
April 16, 2008 @ 9:01 am
Cid,
. They tell me that as you get older you go back to your childhood 
Now there is an idea! I am reminded of my childhood days (about 6 years old) when I would pick bunches of chives that grew near the river and sell them to a little corner shop for a few pence
Elsie
April 16, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
Elsie,
Head Chefs drive a hard bargain …. could be that a few pence is all we can expect unless we unearth something spectacular like gold for instance
Cid
April 16, 2008 @ 3:28 pm