Author Topic: nettles...  (Read 1360 times)

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Offline myronman3

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nettles...
« on: June 24, 2011, 10:44:35 AM »
 just found this forum, and i am glad it was put together.   i have been getting books on wild edible plants and mushrooms.   
  anywho...reading through here, i see alot of the plants i have been reading about and trying have already been mentioned.    one that i havent seen mentioned is nettles.  the stinging nettle is said to make a good strong tea, but the woods nettle is suppose to be excellent nutrionally.  the leaves are like spinach and the stalks are supposed to be similar to asparagus.    but, they must both be cooked before you try to eat them.     anyone here tried them yet?   i will give them a try in the next few weeks, and report back.   so far everything else i have tried has been very good. 

Offline melsdad

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Re: nettles...
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2011, 12:17:23 PM »
That is interesting info about the nettles. I never would have thought they were edible. Keep us posted on how they turn out.
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Offline bdub

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Re: nettles...
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2011, 04:33:06 PM »
Nettles are great.  Cooked they taste like creamed spinach.  I harvest with gloves, but as soon as the plants are submerged in water the needles on the stem fold over and don't seem to sting.  Nettle stings can be soothed by rubbing with jewel weed.


I avoid eating nettles after they start to flower, just based on thing I've read.  Big nettle plants can be dried for tea though, which I did last year in my car on a hot sunny day, they dried in 1 day.  I also hung them in the shed, took about a week to fully dry there.


Enjoy.

Offline BUGEYE

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Re: nettles...
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2011, 04:53:53 PM »
to me, polk salat is the best, but the one time I had nettles "about 50 years ago" at an old aunts house, they were delicious and were cooked with ham hocks.
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Offline Victor3

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Re: nettles...
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2011, 02:05:38 AM »
Never eaten them and can't imagine doing so after being stung by them so many times swimming as a kid.  :o
 
Few years ago we had this weed growing in our vegetable garden. I said to myself, "If I didn't know better, I'd say that was a nettle plant." I'd never seen the stuff within 100 miles of where we live in the city. Shortly thereafter my Wife pulled it with her bare hand and found that it was just what I thought it was.
 
Only way I can think of how it got into my garden is as a seed one of us picked up on a shoe while out hiking in areas where they grow.
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Offline myronman3

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Re: nettles...
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2011, 10:57:01 AM »
Quote
Never eaten them and can't imagine doing so after being stung by them so many times swimming as a kid.  :o

that is the point...times get tough, a person might need to know of food sources others would pass by.