While the sting of this fresh plant is painful, brewed or cooked nettle is safe to eat, perhaps even highly nutritious. Talk to your doctor before brewing nettle if you are on medication or have a medical condition.
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Part 1 of 2: Harvesting Nettles
Step 1. Collect young spring nettles
Plan your expedition in the spring, before the nettle blooms. According to some, nettle will taste bitter and astringent after flowering. Others claim that cystoliths (microscopic stones) in mature plants can irritate the urinary tract. Both claims are disputed by nettle harvesters, but most people prefer young plants.
Several subspecies of nettle flower in late autumn
Step 2. Protect yourself from the sting
Wear gloves, long sleeves, and long pants to avoid stinging plant hairs. Bring regular scissors or plant shears to make harvesting easier.
Many experienced hunters pick with their bare hands, but their advice is often the opposite. This may be due to variations between the nettle subspecies. The key is to look at the plant up close and find out where the hairs are. The feathers are usually angled in the same direction, so you can avoid a sting if you move in the opposite direction, or pluck a leaf straight up and down
Step 3. Identify the nettle
Nettle is a weed that spreads throughout much of the world, and is easy to find in partial shade, such as fences or forest edges. The color of this plant is dark green, with leaves that grow in pairs in opposite directions. The leaves of the plant are heart or lance-shaped, and serrated around the perimeter.
There are several other, less common edible plants that are also called "nettles" because they cause the same sting. The appearance of these plants may be different
Step 4. Pick healthy leaves
The buds of the plant are edible, but there is no reason to include them in tea. Check the top buds and holes or black spots on the leaves, which are signs of pests. If the plant is healthy, cut it off and keep it in your bag. Take a nettle stalk and pluck all the leaves at once from bottom to top with gloved hands.
- To keep the plant alive, harvest only about two or three pairs of leaves. However, nettle can be considered a weed, so this may not be a problem.
- If the tops of very young plants are cut off, they will grow into fine, dense nettles for later harvest.
Step 5. Dry the leaves (optional)
You can use fresh or dried leaves to make tea. Each one has its own taste. To dry them, store the leaves in a paper bag in a ventilated room until they are dry, but still green. Dried leaves usually don't sting, but can still cause minor sores or minor irritation.
Part 2 of 2: Brewing Nettle Tea
Step 1. Know the medical risks
Nettle is safe for most people, but may be harmful to people who have a disorder or take medication. Although further study is needed, most medical organizations provide the following suggestions:
- Avoid nettle tea if you are pregnant, as it can cause contractions or miscarriage.
- Children and breastfeeding women should not drink nettle tea, as the effects on children are unknown.
- Talk to your doctor first if you have blood sugar problems (including diabetes), blood pressure, a blood disorder, or if you are on any medication, even over-the-counter painkillers.
- Start with small amounts, especially if you have a medical illness or history of allergies.
Step 2. Wash the nettle
Check your nettle leaves and clean any insects that land. Wash the leaves in a sieve under running water, scrubbing away dust or other contaminants with gloved hands.
Step 3. Boil the nettles
Place the leaves in boiling water for 10-15 minutes, or until the water turns light green. One cup of leaves (240 mL) is enough for two cups of tea, although you can make it stronger or lighter.
If you don't want to dirty the kettle, just pour boiling water over the leaves and let the leaves soak
Step 4. Drink it as is or with a sweetener
The leaves will no longer sting you. You may still want to strain the tea through a tight sieve to make the tea easier to drink.
Step 5. Make the tea color pink with lemon juice
Lemon juice or other acidic liquid will turn the nettle tea pink. This method may be even more dramatic if the nettle stems are also boiled, as they contain more of the color-changing chemical.
- Several traditional medicinal traditions use this discoloration for a variety of health benefits. This has never been studied scientifically.
- The chemicals that cause discoloration are anthocyanins and related anthocyanin glucosides.
