April 2013 - Skagit Valley Food Co-op

Air When . . .
Nettles Are Popping Up All Over
by Sarah Stoner
I thought everybody knew about
nettles. At least, when it comes to their
sting—the burst of tiny hypodermic-like
needles punching histamine chemicals
into your unsuspecting skin—they are
hard to not notice. Stinging nettles (Urtica
dioica) grow throughout North America,
and they are especially abundant in the
wet coastal forests of our Great Pacific
Northwest from where my family hails.
So I thought I knew nettles.
When I was 10, I knew them along
the path through the understory forest
that leads to Beacon Rock outside of
Vancouver Washington where my parents’
families lived. I knew them as a teenager
visiting my cousins in summertime
Bellevue, when the Bridal Trails area
was actually a network of trails for
horses. I knew nettles in my twenties, on
long overnighter hikes into one national
forest or another, free and easy me, boots
stirring up a mud path, grateful for the
long pants I chose to wear.
But I only knew them as an outdoorsy
“nature lover’s nuisance.” I never thought
about them as a food.
Somewhere along the path of my 30s,
I must have read about how good stinging
nettles were for the body. I lived in the
city and scooped a bunch of dried nettles
from a bulk bin, sprinkled them on my
salads or into my soups. They tasted fine
and mostly I liked knowing I was doing
something good for myself. But I never
quite developed the nettle “habit.”
Then I moved to the country, to a lush
land along Walker Creek in the Skagit, and
my nettle habit hit hard. That first spring,
I noticed a nettle patch near the woodland
border of our wide yard. Something about
the plant’s quiet vibrancy, its leggy push
through soft wet leaved ground, call to
me. I pull on garden gloves, grab a pair
of simple red scissors, and snip carefully
at the prong-edged leaves covered in tiny
spikes like a cat’s tongue.
Inside my kitchen, I wash the
leaves with water in a low bowl, swish
them around with tongs and listen to
their glass-like rustle. I have heard that
nettles lose their sting after soaking or 30
seconds of cooking, so I throw them into
a medium-hot pan ready with coconut oil
with the tiniest pinch of salt. Added to my
yesterday’s dal and rice, lunch gives me a
rush of taste—nutty, thick with flavor yet
fluffy. Delicious. Now I know.
I’m hooked on nettles. Each year, I
can hardly wait for spring’s early bounty
of flavor and nutrients in the form of the
stinging nettle.
Stir-fried nettles, nettle chips, and
nettle soup are my favorite ways to eat
them. Other culinary options are nettle
Tiny wildcrafters make perfect companions in the woods. Here, Katherine Isabella, age 2, keeps me company—and
keeps our nettle harvest in her back-basket—at our favorite spring nettle patch. She knows this means a favorite
snack, nettle chips, will be ready to eat soon!
Photo: Sarah Stoner
lasagna, nettles as a pizza topping, fresh
pasta made “green” with nettles as a base,
and any recipe that calls for spinach.
Several friends swear by their nettle tea
infusions, for flavor and for a variety of
remedies, which is next on my nettle list
to taste and master.
Sarah Stoner lives and writes and
harvests spring-time nettles in the Skagit
Valley area. She can be reached at sarah.
stoner@earthlink.net. Read about her
experience as an American girl raised
overseas in the anthology The Chalk
Circle: Prizewinning Intercultural Essays,
available at the usual online retailers and
at our friendly Mount Vernon library.
Nettling Bits
Collected from Wikipedia
“After the stinging nettle enters its
flowering and seed setting stages the
leaves develop gritty particles called
‘cystoliths’ which can irritate the urinary
tract. Harvest plants no taller than kneehigh
for the same reason.”
“Nettles are rich in vitamins A, C, iron,
potassium, manganese, and calcium—
and are one of the highest in protein for a
leafy green vegetable. Young plants were
harvested by Native Americans and used
as a cooked plant in spring when other
food plants were scarce.”
“The growth of stinging nettle is an
indicator that an area has high fertility
(especially phosphorus) and has been
disturbed.”
Salty Nettle Chips
My veggie-averse children munch happily on nettle chips each spring. My husband
loves them as a “bar snack”—like a bowl of peanuts, they go well with beer. Nettle or
kale chips are simple to make—once you master the cooking time specific to your own
kitchen, which can vary from oven to oven. Take the time to try this tasty spring snack,
packed with protein, vitamins, iron and calcium.
20-40 freshly harvested nettle leaves
1 Tbsp olive oil (no need to measure—a good glug will do)
Small finger pinch of salt
1.Using tongs, rinse your nettles in cool water and drain in a sieve or spinner.
2.Transfer nettles to a mixing bowl using tongs. Toss leaves with olive oil and salt.
3.Spread nettles on baking pan in a single layer. Place in oven at 200 degrees. Check
your nettles every 5 to 10 minutes until they lose sogginess and become just crunchy.
Be careful not to let them char and turn dark brown or black. Total cooking time can
vary between 10 and 25 minutes. Experiment with other seasonings as you please!
Creamy Nettle Potato Soup
The ratio of potatoes to nettles in this nourishing soup is completely up to you. I pack a
lot of nettles in, and I love it. But you could use less, if that’s all you had or you wanted
to “start small.” Consider a few dashes of lemon juice or balsamic vinegar for more
tang. The recipe versions I’ve used are relatively similar—this one comes from The
Nourishing Gourmet.com
1 onion, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced or put through the garlic press
Olive oil or coconut oil
8 cups of broth (I used chicken broth)
4-6 potatoes, peeled and cubed (more potatoes- thicker and more creamy, less-thinner)
6-8 cups of packed and washed nettle leaves
In a large soup pot, heat oil until hot, and add onion. Sprinkle in a little salt and sauté
until onion starts to soften (about 5-7 minutes). Add garlic and sauté for minute or two
more.
Add broth and potatoes and bring to a simmer, turn down heat and simmer for about 20
minutes or until potatoes are soft.
Now add the nettles leaves, and cook for about five more minutes. You can just mash up
the soup a bit with the back of a wooden spoon for a rustic soup, or you can puree it into
a smooth soup which I prefer in this case. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.
Skagit Valley Food Co-op The Natural Enquirer April/May 2013 9