North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

Maybe i'm just overly sensitive to nettle sting, but I have very unpleasant 
memories of them from my childhood.  They hurt worse than bees, and hurt 
for a long time.  I don't care how tasty they are, there's no way i'm 
planting them on my property.  :-)
___
Ginda

...... Original Message .......
On Fri, 27 Apr 2007 09:36:43 -0500 "Donna &/or Kieran" 
<holycow@cookeville.com> wrote:
>Dylan,
>    I've drunk nettle tea many times, bought from the health food store. 
>I've talked with a Tennessee couple who grow lots of nettles to dry to add 
>to soups and stews for the winter.  But all we've ever done with ours is eat 
>them fresh, usually in a stew or quiche or with eggs.  The way I pick them 
>is to wear gloves, or sometimes just a glove on the hand holding the 
>clippers.  With the ungloved hand I take hold of the tip of a leaf, clip 
off 
>the top of the plant, maybe 2-4 pairs of leaves down, and drop it into my 
>cooking pan.  When full, I take it to the stove and pour hot water over 
the 
>nettles.  After 5 minutes of cooking they are ready to be chopped and 
added 
>to a quiche or have some other omelet ingredients added.   Be sure to pour 
>the cooking water into cups to drink, heavenly.  You might want to add 
salt 
>and butter to it, or a bit of boullion, or make some kind of Japanese 
style 
>soup from it  Or for stew, just start adding the rest of the ingredients. 
>One of the best things about having nettles in the garden (not running 
loose 
>like in England where I cussed them frequently, but in a single patch)  is 
>that they are perennials.  They come on early in the spring before the 
>spring planted greens, and are a welcome change from the overwintered 
>brassicas.  Then in the autumn, after the heat of summer it seems to be 
best 
>to mow them down when they have gone to seed and are looking, well, seedy, 
>and then they spring back up in the autumn rains, ready to eat again.
>     You know, nettles are supposed to be good for hayfever.  Our local 
>health food store does a brisk business with rather expensive freeze dried 
>nettle capsules for customers who can't abide the side effects of 
>antihistamines.  (Never mind fruit trees.  Our fruit crop is toast, but 
the 
>nettles look great.)  They also are used to make a beer that my husband 
says 
>turned out very well for him decades ago when he made some.  Bright green 
>too, save a few bottles for St. Patrick's Day.  Donna 
>
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