Category: Food and Recipes

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle Mulled White Wine

We are coming to the end of the year 2021. We have grown so many nettles, cooked many dishes out of it, drank countless cups of nettle tea and nettle beer, used nettle for dying, we fertilized our plants with it, we got to know its historical uses, like magic spells, clothes, and furthermore its healing powers.

If everyone would have known nettle’s healing properties, it would be the most produced crop worldwide like cane sugar, corn, wheat, apples and potatoes. There would be too many healthy people on this planet. Imagine a world where there is no allergy, no high blood pressure, no anemia, no hormone imbalances, no dandruff, no baldness, no vitamin deficiency, no digestion problems, no joint pain and no cancer. It’s hard to believe that a common weed can solve all these problems, isn’t it? But the common stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is capable of all these things.

Now, let’s prepare the year’s last nettle beverage: Nettle Mulled White Wine.

Ingredients:

  • A bottle of white wine (750 ml)
  • 2 cups of water
  • 3 tablespoons of dried nettle leaf
  • ½ cup of sugar
  • A small piece of ginger (the size depends on how much you like the taste), chopped
  • 1 organic lemon, sliced
  • 1 organic orange, sliced
  • 6-8 cloves
  • 3-4 cinnamon sticks
  • 3-4 star anise

Preparation:

Combine wine and water, bring them to boil. Add the nettle, ginger and sugar. Let them simmer when you add lemon and orange. Cook for about 15 minutes, then give it the spices. Remove from heat. Strain it into mugs and enjoy this healing warm drink!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle Powder

The health benefits of nettle (Urtica dioica) are absolutely amazing! We can use the roots, stems, leaves, flowers and seeds of nettle for different purposes. The leaves and stems are covered with stinging hairs that stop most people from using nettle. 

How to use nettle when you don’t want to touch them in the first place? And how can you add nettle to your eating plan if you don’t grow your own fresh stinging nettle? 

One of the practical forms of using nettle is leaf powder. The powder made of dried nettle leaves is actually a concentrated form of nutrients contained in these leaves that are rich in minerals (calcium, potassium, silica, sulfur, magnesium, iron, copper), vitamins (vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin B9, vitamin C, Vitamin D, vitamin K), amino acids, proteins, polysaccharides, plant pigments (chlorophyll, carotenoids), fatty acids, sterols, tannins and many other phytochemicals.  

Nettle leaf powder can be used as a nutrient-rich food additive in sauces, soups or salads, as well as a conditioning agent in cosmetic preparations, shampoos and hair masks. It is rich in green pigment, chlorophyll, so it is perfectly usable as natural food, cosmetic and soap colorant. Its high content of proteins, vitamins and minerals makes nettle leaf powder a great dietary supplement. It is often sold in capsule or tablet form as well. Nettle is well-known for its high iron content and it is often recommended to people suffering from iron deficiency.

You can use nettle leaf powder in cookies and biscuits as well. Sweet nettle may sound unusual, but worth a try. This nettle shortbread recipe is based on traditional Scottish shortbreads.

Nettle shortbread recipe

Ingredients:

  • 160 g butter at room temperature
  • 310 g flour
  • 70 g sugar
  • 3 tablespoons nettle leaf powder
  • ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 egg yolks

Preparation:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Cut butter into small pieces.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, nettle powder, baking powder and sugar).
  4. Add butter and mix until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
  5. Add the egg yolks and form a ball of the dough. If you want a softer dough, add a tablespoon milk.
  6. Roll dough on parchment paper to about 1 cm thick. Cut into squares, triangles or use a decorative cutter.
  7. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy this green shortbread with a cup of tea, while lying on the sofa with a book to read on the cold winter days!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle Tea Blends

There is nothing better on a cold, wet, windy winter day, than a blanket and a steaming mug of herbal tea. Herbal teas are wonderful winter companions. Not only are they tasty they also have many benefits for your health. Making your own winter peace herbal tea blend is a simple task that can help you relax. This spicy tea is packed with iron and vitamin C, which when mixed together, are easily absorbed by your body.

  • 2 parts dried nettle leaves
  • 1 part rose hips
  • ½ part cinnamon (crushed)
  • ½ part chamomile flowers

For a fruity taste, you can add dried fruits as well (raisin, cranberry, apricot). Combine the herbs in a mason jar. Use one teaspoon of tea blend to a cup of boiling water. Let steep the herbs for 10 minutes, then strain and drink. Add honey if you like it sweet.

Enjoy!

Other Nettle Tea Blend suggestions: 

Sore Throat Tea:

  • 2 parts nettle
  • 1 part echinacea
  • 1 part thyme
  • ½ part sage

Hormone Balance Tea:

  • 3 parts nettle
  • 1 part raspberry leaf
  • ½ part lady’s mantle
  • ½ part sage

Be Happy Tea:

  • 2 parts nettle
  • 1 part St John’s Wort
  • ½ part hibiscus
  • ½ part peppermint

Good Night Tea:

  • 1 part nettle
  • 1 part lavender flowers
  • 1 part chamomile
  • ½ part dried hop cone

Make sure you always label your tea blends. Hope you enjoy this wintertime activity with dried herbs in your kitchen!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle Fruit Leather or Nettle Roll-Ups

Nettle is such an amazing plant! All parts of the herb are useful, filled with minerals, vitamins, nutrients and dietary fiber, among other beneficial components. But when we make a nettle tea and strain it after steeping enough time to get the healing juice and nutrients out of the leaves for example, the leftover strained nettle is just a “waste” that usually ends up in the compost heap. Though, it is still beneficial for human health. Here is an easy and delicious snack recipe using leftover nettle, that your kids will love too. You will never throw away the strained nettle after you tried this nettle fruit leather again! But of course, you can use dried and re-hydrated nettle for this recipe. In this case, you will get an even more nutritious superfood!

Ingredients:

  • Leftover strained nettle or 1 cup dried nettle, soaked in water for an hour
  • 4 large apples
  • 4 large pears
  • 1 ½ cup water
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 2 tbs honey

Preparation:

Wash, core and cut your fruits into chunks. You don’t have to peel them unless they don’t seem too nice. Add the nettle and water and cook until soft, then puree the mixture with a blender. Add the honey. Use food wrap or baking paper to line your trays. Pour the puree onto the sheet and stick it into a cool oven set as low as you can. You are aiming to dry it, not cook it. It can take anything from about 3 hours to about 10 hours to totally dry out. When it’s dried, cut even strips and roll them up.

It is easy to store nettle and fruits this way if your family doesn’t eat the rolls too fast.

Enjoy!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle Pasta

25 October World Pasta Day

Pasta is one of the world’s most favorite foods! We celebrate World Pasta Day today. The goal of this day is to call attention not just to the product of pasta, but to new, healthy, and creative ways to enjoy a pasta meal. 

The world has enjoyed this dish since the first century A.D. Pasta are divided into two main categories: dried (pasta secca) and fresh (pasta fresca). Most dried pasta is produced commercially by machines and fresh pasta is traditionally produced by hand.

Dried pasta surged in popularity during the 14th and 15th centuries — mainly for its easy storage. This allowed people to bring pasta along on ships when exploring the New World. One of the first pasta factories of Europe was established in Pest, Hungary in 1859, which worked with steam machines.

Fresh stinging nettle is one of our most nutritious wild foods and makes a great cooked green, and it’s also a perfect addition to fresh hand-made pasta. Since it keeps its bright green color after cooking, it makes a beautiful and healthful pasta.

Let’s celebrate World Pasta Day with this home-made nettle pasta!

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups of fresh nettle leaves or 1 cup of nettle leaf powder
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 and a half cup all-purpose flour
  • A pinch of sea salt

Preparation:

  1. If you use freshly picked nettle, blanch them for 3 minutes, rinse in cold water and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
  2. Puree egg and nettle (blanched or powder) to a smooth consistency. 
  3. Add flour and salt and mix to combine. It shouldn’t be sticky but should hold together when pinched. Knowing when the consistency is right is something that takes practice.
  4. Gather into a ball, turn out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth and elastic.
  5. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for half an hour in the fridge. Roll out and cut whatever pasta shape you prefer. You can do it with a pasta machine or a sharp chef’s knife.
  6. When ready to use, boil in salted water for 2 to 3 minutes or until al dente. Toss with olive oil or butter to prevent sticking.
  7. Add your favourite pasta sauce. Green herbs, garlic and spices work well with olive oil and cheese to nettle pasta.

Enjoy!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle soup for cool evenings

It’s autumn already. Days shorten and the temperature lowers day by day. We can still find some fresh nettle in the garden or in the wild to cook something delicious and nutritious to strengthen our immune system for the winter. If all the nettle had gone to sleep by this time, we can still use dried or frozen nettle we preserved during the growing season.

Let’s cook a heartwarming soup!

Ingredients:

  • 150 g of fresh/frozen nettle leaves rinsed or 2 cups dried leaves soaked in water for a few hours
  • 20 g of ginger finely chopped
  • 1 fennel root cut in pieces
  • 1 big sweet potato cut in pieces
  • 1 onion chopped in small pieces
  • ½ leek chopped in slices
  • 1 garlic clove finely chopped
  • 1 green apple cut in pieces
  • few drops of olive oil
  • salt/pepper to taste

Preparation:

Saute the ginger, onion, leek and garlic in a few drops of olive oil until they release their pleasant smell. Add the rest of the veggies and the nettle. Stir and cover with water, then bring to boil. When your ingredients are cooked, remove from fire and blend until you have a creamy texture.

Serving suggestions:

Add some spicy olive oil and a few drops of lemon to your plate. You can grill small pieces of Pleurotus mushrooms and add them to your soup as a crispy surprise. Alternatively, you can roast some pine nuts, or sunflower seeds/pumpkin seeds, or make some crouton from your old bread.

Bon appetit!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle in the Egg

8th October 2021 World Egg Day

World Egg Day is an annual international campaign every second Friday in October that promotes the nutritional benefits of eggs in our diet and honors the farmers who care for the poultry which supply them. For centuries, eggs have played a major role in feeding families around the globe. Eggs are one of nature’s highest quality sources of protein, and indeed contain many of the key ingredients for life. The proteins contained within eggs are highly important in the development of the brain and muscles, have a key role to play in disease prevention and contribute to general well-being.

The importance of nettle in the diet of poultry

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), as a superfood, is not only beneficial for humans, but birds too. Filled with essential nutrients and vitamins, as well as dietary fiber, it promotes health and a balanced diet for animals. 

Did you know that nettle addition was found to substantially increase broiler skin yellowness? Chicken with yellow skin is often seen as a sign of healthy food and good quality chicken. Nettle is good for the eggs too. The widely used curcumin is not the only option for farmers to add in chicken food to promote a better color for skin and egg yolk. Wild nettle is found everywhere and is cheaper than curcumin.

Nettle supplementation increases the egg quality besides strengthening the immune system of laying hens. Yolk color is an important quality trait of eggs. Natural pigment sources are preferred by consumers. Nettle and egg are the two main essential gifts from nature.

Have you ever made a nettle omelette? This recipe is worth trying 🙂

Ingredients for the filling:

  • Fresh nettle tops, a large colander filled to the brim or dried nettle leaves soaked in water for a few hours
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, halved and cut in rings
  • Salt and pepper

Roughly chop the nettles. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion and let cook till it becomes translucent. Add the nettle tops, stir and cover with a lid. Cook until the nettles are wilted, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Ingredients for the omelet per person:

  • Olive oil for frying
  • 2 -3 eggs
  • Salt and pepper
  • finely grated parmesan cheese

Beat the eggs with a fork in a bowl. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Pour in the eggs and as the omelet begins to cook, use a spatula to draw the eggs from the side to the middle and allow the uncooked eggs to run beneath. Repeat this a few times. Sprinkle the parmesan on top and let the omelet cook till just set but still soft. Put a generous helping of the nettles on one half of the omelet and fold it over. Let the omelet slide on a plate.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle for your Kids

Well, the new school year has started already. Kids are forced to sit for several hours a day in school, concentrating and learning a lot of new things that hopefully they will benefit from later on in their lives. Studying can be really tiring for a young, still-developing brain, that’s why sleeping and proper nutrition are necessary.

Giving your not too small little babies – they go to school already! – an extra mineral boost with a herbal infusion works great. Nettle is filled with nutrients that a kid needs, so it’s a great choice to prepare nettle for your kids. Nettle contains so much calcium that it is an excellent remedy for growing pains in children. And everyone needs a big refuel at lunchtime, so pack this nettle infusion to their lunch. This kid-friendly hydrating and mineral-rich herbal infusion recipe is for your family: 

Ingredients:

  • 3 tsp nettle
  • 2 tsp hibiscus
  • 1 litre of water
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 2 tsp honey 

Preparation:

Put the nettle and hibiscus at a mason jar, French Press, or teapot. Pour the cold water over the herbs and let them steep overnight. You can steep up to 24 hours if you wish. After the infusion has steeped, strain off the herbs and enjoy. You can add a squeeze of lemon and for the kids new to herbal tea you can drizzle in the raw honey. Just shake up the infusion and honey in a jar and it will dissolve.

Good herbal power for school!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle Beer

6th August 2021 International Beer Day

International Beer Day is a global celebration of beer, taking place in pubs, breweries, and backyards all over the world. It’s a day for beer lovers everywhere to celebrate the craft of brewing and to show appreciation for those involved in the making of beer.

The majority of beers on the market today are either ales or lagers. Lagers tend to have a more smooth and mellow flavor, while ales are more full-bodied and slightly bitter, due to the yeast and fermentation process. Lagers are fermented for longer at lower temperatures, while ales are fermented at higher temperatures for a shorter period of time.

The hop (Humulus lupulus), which is now the quintessential aromatic and bittering herb of our contemporary beers, was often completely unknown in some brewing areas of Europe. In fact, hopped beer has only been popular in the UK for the last five hundred years. Instead, brewers relied on a healthy collection of herbs. This was the unhopped Gruit Ale. For example, yarrow ale was the traditional wedding beer in some cultures. 

Today, Gruit is making a comeback, as many breweries are riding a wave of interest in speciality beers. There are hundreds of ingredients they use to taste beers, like fruits and herbs.

The Celts have started to use nettle (Urtica dioica) for making beer as far back as the Bronze Age. The brewing of nettle beer is mostly unrecorded, probably because it was strictly a rural activity carried out by the poor and illiterate. Most recipes miss out both hops and malt. 

Modern enthusiastic foragers who become talented homebrewers, usually use fresh nettle tops, ginger, lemon or orange to make nettle beer. If you are planning to impress your friends and loved ones with your homemade nettle beer on International Beer Day, you can find several nettle beer recipes on the internet. Don’t hesitate to brew your own beer!

Happy International Beer Day!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Nettle Cheeses

20 July International Cheese Day

“Blessed be the cheesemakers, for they shall inherit the earth!” ~ Life of Brian

There are lots of types of cheese in the market and the cheese making businesses are blooming worldwide. The biggest cheese consumer countries are in Europe, in addition the tradition of cheese making as well a part of many European cultures.

Did you know that nettle is essential in many cheeses?

There are some award winner cheeses – lots of them from the UK – that contain nettle (Urtica dioica) leaves, but nettle is more common in other not specifically nettle cheeses too. Why?

Cheese makers use nettle in the coagulation process of milk. The chemical content found in nettle is used to acidify the milk and lower its pH in order to make the curd, separating solid and fluid fraction of milk. Using nettle rennet is an ancient form of milk coagulation. It’s simple to make, easy to use and a great vegetarian alternative to animal-derived rennet. 

There are two main types of rennet: animal and plant based rennet. The primary enzyme (chymosin) in animal rennet is collected from the lining of the fourth stomach of a newborn calf. The enzyme is produced there to help baby cows digest milk. It can be a problem for vegetarians. That is why the use of ancient nettle rennet is coming back. When this type of rennet is used, it makes the cheese vegetarian.

Let’s see some nettle cheeses that worth mentioning:

Cornish Yarg Cheese is wrapped in nettle leaves and allowed to age about 6 weeks, which will result a semi hard cheese made from grass rich Cornish milk. The cheeses are sold still wrapped in the nettle leaves, under which the crust of the cheese is green with grey, white or green mould. Inside, the pale yellow cheese is creamy under the crust, firm towards the middle, and slightly crumbly in the middle. The crust is edible. The cheese has a slightly lemony taste.

Northumberland Nettle Cheese is made with cows’ milk with the addition of real nettles. It is made with vegetarian rennet, and the addition of nettles encourages the beautiful creaminess of the Gouda-influenced cheese. This cheese is matured for 3 months which allows the subtle flavor to develop. It’s fabulous with courgette on a vegetarian pizza!

Teifi Nettle Cheese is made with nettles that are added during the cheese making process. The nettle has a light herby and distinct flavor that makes it a very unique cheese. This award-winning artisan cheese is made from the finest organic raw milk.

Happy International Cheese Day!