April 24, 2008

Spring Nettles

It's allergy season again here in the Rockies.  As some of you know, one of the best spring tonics to prevent or decrease the frequency and severity of allergic responses is Stinging Nettles, Urtica dioica.

Did you know that the fresh leaves can be boiled or steamed and eaten like cooked spinach?  They are delicious and the formic acid sting is neutralized by cooking or drying so you needn't worry about that.

So, the other day, I took my 6-year-old grandson out to my favorite nettles patch to harvest some of the young, juicy plants to boil for dinner that night. I had outfitted him with gloves and a long sleeved shirt and warned him that they can sting.  We had a great time clipping the young leaves and then washing them and boiling them up in salted water.  As they were boiling, Asante was just obsessed with the thought of a plant that could sting like an ant.  He just couldn't believe it.  So, silly grandma that I am, I suggested that he go handle some with his bare hands to feel the sting.  Long story short, he ended up complaining all evening about "those stupid stinging nettles plants", and refused to even try them deliciously boiled and covered in garlic butter.  (However, his 2-year-old less adventurous sister loved them!)