How To Prepare and Harvest Nettles By Kari Diehl

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Apart from the slight fact that even the very young plants sting, nettles are a wonderful ingredient to use in soups, pasta dishes, frittatas—basically in any cooked dish where you would use young spinach. They’re certainly worth the slight challenge involved in picking them, for they are rich in vitamin C, calcium, potassium, flavonoids, histamine, and serotonin—all the great chemicals one needs to reenergize after a cold winter and to combat Spring allergies.

To harvest and prepare nettles you will need:

• A good pair of sturdy leather gloves
• A plastic bag
• A pair of scissors
• A long-sleeved work shirt and / or jacket, jeans, sturdy shoes and socks.

The best time to harvest nettles is in late March and April. If they’ve begun to flower, you’ve waited too late.

Make sure that your arms and legs are well-covered, including your wrists and ankles. Find a good stand of nettles well-away from roadsides (where they are at risk of being sprayed by chemicals or otherwise contaminated by car emissions). Nettles thrive in the same conditions as blackberries and can often be found competing for territory with them.

Look for tender young plants, put on your gloves, and cut off only the upper leaves (no larger than about 3” wide). Check the undersides of the leaves to make sure there is no white spittle present. You’ll save yourself a lot of effort (and perhaps a few stings) later by cutting the leaves from the stems as you go. If you’re pressed for time, though, you can cut the upper third of the young plants (about 5” from the top) and separate the leaves from the stalks when you get home.

You’ll need about a shopping-bag full of leaves to make a pot of soup (about 10-12 cups).

Before cooking, make sure that all of the leaves are separated from the stalks. Drop the leaves into a sink or bowl of warm water and let sit for about 10 minutes. This washing process by itself will remove much of the sting from them (although I still prefer not to touch them at this point!). You’ll see that the soaking water becomes a rust-orange color; this is nothing to worry about.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the washed leaves from the sink or bowl to a large pot. Add just enough water to cover. Heat to a light simmer; blanch leaves for 10 minutes.

Your nettles will now be risk-free and healthier than spinach (without the pesticide residues or the e-coli that can plague commercially grown spinach). Celebrate Spring by using them to prepare beautifully green, delicately fresh Nettle Soup (in Swedish, Nässelsoppa).