Gabriola nettles redux
This is my stash, man.
Remember that basket full of nettle? I dried those nettles, and this is what they look like now. Good news: easy to store, ready for more! Bad news: that whole basket of nettle amounted to only one cup of dried nettle.
Filed in food,Gabriola Island,native plants 7 Comments so far
7 Responses to “Gabriola nettles redux”
specialk on 20 Mar 2010 at 5:53 pm #
So if your blog entry concerning nettles from last March included words such as, “yuck” and “not food”… what are you going to be using that one cup of nettles for?
Looks very similar to my seaweed fertilizer heap out back!
Joan on 20 Mar 2010 at 10:44 pm #
I think you can make wine from nettles – I seem to remember having some long ago and it was quite good. But these kinda look more smokable than fermentable or edible.
Gabriolan on 21 Mar 2010 at 9:11 am #
specialk — Oh, that blog entry. Wow, you’re paying attention!
Of the 2009 tasting team members, I was the one who liked nettles from the start. I’ve discovered that I particularly like them dried (but not ground) as a snack food – they remind me of dried Japanese seaweed. So I plan to dry lots more nettle to nibble on throughout the winter.
This is the first time I’ve ground the dried nettle. I plan to sneak little bits of it into soups and such. The Executive Chef won’t mind a bit. Or notice.
Meanwhile, the Executive Chef has come around a bit as far as nettles go. The Executive Chef is particularly interested in trying this cooking method.
Gabriolan on 21 Mar 2010 at 9:19 am #
Joan – I’d forgotten that people make wine from nettles. Thanks very much for the reminder. I found a nettle wine recipe, and that recipe page also mentions nettle beer. Hmmm!
I know somebody who makes beer. Perhaps that somebody will make some nettle beer for the rest of us to try! Meanwhile, I’m quite tempted by that wine recipe.
specialk on 21 Mar 2010 at 11:01 pm #
I’m happy to hear you both are going for it! I think I’ll stick to hemp hearts and keep the nettles for my compost-love. Or, regarding nettle leaves, besides plant food tea – I would probably try this first:
“Fresh leaves are freeze-dried, powdered, and encapsulated and are preferred for treating asthmatic and allergic conditions.” – from http://www.ryandrum.com/threeherbs1.htm
Perhaps some further reading first!
Always interested in what people are doing with native plants.
specialk on 21 Mar 2010 at 11:08 pm #
I had to laugh! Listed under “smoking herbs”…
http://metapot.com/product.php?productid=1666&cat=62
Apparently good for “exorcism” as well.
Whoa!!! Count the benefits!
Gabriolan on 22 Mar 2010 at 9:14 pm #
specialk, you crack me up. Thanks for the fun links.