That was neighbor Jolene's response when I asked her if she had any nettles she wanted to get rid of. She wanted to know why on earth I wanted those nasty nettles, and I told her I ate them.
Jolene's idea of a fun time with nettles was to spray the dickens out of them, then watch them wilt and die! So she trotted along with me when I took my shears, gloves and paper bag out to cut her nettles. She wanted to see with her own eyes just what this was all about.
.
I have been drying nettles to have for winter use, and eating them in stirfry, and soup. I've enjoyed nettles for years, and introduced many folks to their goodness. If all you think of is STING when you hear the word "nettle", read on.Nettle tea is a good place to start using nettles, for a beginner. When I mentioned that to Jolene, her response was,
"There is NO WAY you'll ever get me to drink nettle tea!"
My current favorite drink is Nettle Infusion - which is considerably stronger than tea. I fill a canning jar about 3/4 with chopped nettles (the food processor is my best friend), then fill the jar with boiling water and lid it. It steeps overnight on the counter, then I strain it into another jar. Infusion has concentrated amounts of all of nettle's good stuff. It is dark and earthy and green tasting.
"You are actually going to DRINK that?"
Yep, I am. I drink about a quart a day of this power house. And to make it even better, I often add a tablespoon of organic apple cider vinegar - another powerhouse of nutrition.
FYI: here are some stats on a nutritional analysis. Let's just compare RDA, spinach, and nettles. This is in milligrams per cup.
Calcium: RDA 800 Spinach 102 Nettles 2900
Potassium: RDA 1875 Spinach 518 Nettles 1750
Vit A: RDA 4000 IU Spinach 8,920 Nettles 21,060
Vit C: RDA 60 Spinach 56 Nettles 83
Protein: RDA 3.60% Spinach 5% Nettles 16.5%
There's more, but you get the idea. And wait until I show you Dandelions!
Anyway, to finish the story. Jolene has been fighting a nasty congestion bug, cough, lost her voice a couple times - sort of a bronchitis, but no fever.
So she, being the inquisitive teacher that she is, asked me what I would recommend from the herbal artillery, plus she did some online research of her own. She came up with the same info I had: Nettles and Plantain would be helpful (I won't go into details here, you can do your own research if you are interested...). So when I went over to milk a few days ago, she told me, "OK, you can laugh - I'm drinking nettle tea."
Almost brought a tear to my eye. Then I shared what I had found out, plus gave her one of my trusty bottles of essential oil for congestion to use as a steam.
Plus a jar of dried plantain, and dried nettles, for tea.
Her final comment of the evening: "You can ALWAYS teach an old dog new tricks..."
"You are actually going to DRINK that?"
Yep, I am. I drink about a quart a day of this power house. And to make it even better, I often add a tablespoon of organic apple cider vinegar - another powerhouse of nutrition.
FYI: here are some stats on a nutritional analysis. Let's just compare RDA, spinach, and nettles. This is in milligrams per cup.Calcium: RDA 800 Spinach 102 Nettles 2900
Potassium: RDA 1875 Spinach 518 Nettles 1750
Vit A: RDA 4000 IU Spinach 8,920 Nettles 21,060
Vit C: RDA 60 Spinach 56 Nettles 83
Protein: RDA 3.60% Spinach 5% Nettles 16.5%
There's more, but you get the idea. And wait until I show you Dandelions!
Anyway, to finish the story. Jolene has been fighting a nasty congestion bug, cough, lost her voice a couple times - sort of a bronchitis, but no fever.
So she, being the inquisitive teacher that she is, asked me what I would recommend from the herbal artillery, plus she did some online research of her own. She came up with the same info I had: Nettles and Plantain would be helpful (I won't go into details here, you can do your own research if you are interested...). So when I went over to milk a few days ago, she told me, "OK, you can laugh - I'm drinking nettle tea."
Almost brought a tear to my eye. Then I shared what I had found out, plus gave her one of my trusty bottles of essential oil for congestion to use as a steam.
Plus a jar of dried plantain, and dried nettles, for tea.
Her final comment of the evening: "You can ALWAYS teach an old dog new tricks..."
1 comment:
Arrrrfffffffff!!!
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