Nettle: our friend

Nettle reveals its incredible potential to us

Unloved because of its stinging hairs, nettle is nevertheless our best companion plant since prehistoric times.
It grows, in fact, exclusively where Man has settled.

The nettle is an excellent wild vegetable due to its remarkable nutritional and medicinal value and its omnipresence. Its pleasant flavour has earned it a revival by top chefs and it lends itself to many preparations:

• Cooked: in soups, gratins or quiches,
• Just blanched, the young leaves finely chopped can enhance nettle butter, tabbouleh, fromage blanc…

It is imperative to pick nettle at the young shoot stage (before the seeds) and to remove the tough stems.
The best leaves are those of spring, particularly those at the top of the plant, however they can be consumed throughout the season.

A remarkable nutritious vegetable, nettle is the plant richest in proteins and also contains a large amount of iron, silica, calcium, potassium as well as vitamins B, C, E and K and beta carotene and chlorophyll.

Nettle is a very good plant for the blood due to its triple action: depurative, anti-anaemic and haemostatic.
A 3-week course of infusion or hydrosol helps to cleanse the blood, stimulate the immune system and strengthen oneself.

For external use, nettle is recommended to strengthen hair and cleanse oily skin.
Its usefulness in the vegetable garden should be noted as it stimulates vegetable growth and can be used as a manure.
At home, nettle is used to scour pans, to dye wool yellow (with the root).

So do not forget to stock up in the fine season, dry them and then reduce them to flakes to keep in a jar, nettle will thus be useful to you all year round.