permaculture

["John Schinnerer" <john@eco-living.net>]

Aloha,

Yummy stuff, nettles.

> Does anyone know how to get rid of the hairs, or did I miss a
> post?

As soon as they get a tiny bit of cooking heat (steam, sautee, stir-fry,
whatever) the hairs pretty much give up and wilt (and cease to sting).

Even 'mature' nettles that aren't so tasty as greens make a pretty good tea.

A friend of mine eats them fresh.  He says the secret is to roll the
leaves up with the hairs on the inside, then pop them in your mouth.  That
way the hairs all get squished/broken (="deactivated") before they come in
contact with inside of mouth.  NOTE:  I have not tried this myself and do
not plan to... :-O

My girlfriend Ayars seems to have an affinity of some kind with nettles. 
She says she rather likes the feel of the 'sting', which apparently isn't
a sting to her like it is to me.  She'll wade right into a patch
bare-handed... :-o


John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
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Cultural & Ecological Designing
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