Nettle Recipes!

[Jestgar]

These grow wild in my yard and now is the time to harvest. I've already thrown a bunch into some soup, and I'm about to make a nettle quiche, but I still have at least three more bowls of these that I can harvest.

I hate to throw away free food so I'm looking for suggestions.

[Lisa]

These grow wild in my yard and now is the time to harvest. I've already throw a bunch into some soup, and I'm about to make a nettle quiche, but I still have at least three more bowls of these that I can harvest.

I hate to throw away free food so I'm looking for suggestions.

Learn suffin' every day - had to Google nettles. The only nettles I know about are swimming in the sea.

What do they taste like?

[Jestgar]

The flavor is a bit stronger than spinach. Because of the sting you can't eat them raw, and I don't even like to handle them until they've been blanched. I fill my big metal bowl with leaves and tip the whole thing over onto a deep pan with some simmering water, leaving the bowl on top. I leave them on the stove for a few minutes to let them steam through, then rinse them.

Then I have a bowl full of limp green leaves in my sink, waiting for instructions.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I've never heard of those before either. I found this page with recipes for soup and tea: Open Original Shared Link

Sounds like these can be dangerous if you don't know how to cook or handle them!

[AzizaRivers]

I've been all over the nettles. This was the first year I tried to do anything with them besides tea. We clipped the youngest leaves, steamed them and added a little salt and lemon juice. I have to admit that I was not really that impressed...though I think it was the preparation, not the nettles themselves. Maybe cutting them up small and mixing them in with rice or millet? I bet they would be nice in a berry smoothie. When I steamed them they got cold really fast, so it was like a mouthful of cool, soggy leaves. I'm not really a fan of cooked spinach either though.

If I don't come up with any way of making them that we like better, I always fall back on drying them and saving them for tea. They'll last me all year and it's delicious with honey, and very nutritious.

[txplowgirl]

Not only nettles, but I grew up on poke salad, dandelion greens and clover, also known as lamb's quarters. Rinse, then bring to a boil, then rinse again, bring to a boil again and then rinse again then add your butter and whatever seasonings you would like. Always boil and rinse twice because it has toxins in them that can make you sick if not boiled twice. But oh man they are delicious.

This is the way I was was taught to cook them, I tried rinsing and boiling once but my granparents and parents were right. You will get sick if you don't do the rinse and boil twice method. Learned the hard way.