.Another plant is emerging this time of year that some people wish wouldn't and others, like me, enjoy carefully - stinging nettles! They have these annoying hair-like 'stingers' along the stem and leaves that, when you brush against them, cause a mildly painful and burning sensation that takes awhile to wear off. If you want to learn about what causes the stinging and how it happens, here's a great article that explains what they do (and don't) know. One of the components is formic acid (the same chemical that many ants inject when they bite you), but, according to this article, it may not be the main irritant. I'll leave you to read about it on your own. My mom used to say that peeing on the affected skin would neutralize the toxin, but according to the article, this has not been substantiated scientifically. Same with rubbing dock leaves on your skin. Apparently antihistamines do counteract the histamine that is one of the components of stinging nettle toxic cocktail. From personal experience, I can tell you that the good news is that the sting does eventually wear off after several hours and, at least for me, it's not all that bad. But there is more good news! If you're careful about picking the newly emerged leaves, they make an excellent and very bright green soup! Some people add potatoes to thicken the soup and some people use fish. All you have to do is wear gloves and have enough patience to pick a large bag full of leaves. I guarantee you that when you find a patch, you'll certainly have more than enough. Then you quickly boil the leaves, which neutralizes the stinging effect. |
Here's one of the recipes I use. I use the leeks that overwintered in my vegetable garden and a lot more cream than the recipe calls for. Given that the dreaded and highly invasive garlic mustard is also growing, you can do double duty by uprooting the garlic mustard and using its leaves to add more garlic flavor to the recipe. I'm going to test out this recipe with my Walkabouters this very chilly week - along with some homemade sourdough bread. That ought to warm them up as we explore the woods together.