I want to pick nettles now but all the websites say no!

Angelina-M

Hi all.

I've started drinking green smoothies in an attempt to get healthy. I have read that dandelions and nettle are brilliant in smoothies and of course they are free!

I've read its fine to pick dandelion at any time of year so thats great but everywhere seems to say only pick nettle up until around June when the flowers come out. Even my book, Free food by Richard Mabey says not to pick after June as the plants become largely inedible.

I decided that I would have to be content with just harvesting the seeds and then waiting until early next year to grab some young nettles. However on my way to the fields today I spotted a large area that had lots of young nettles growing over it. Would these young nettles be ok to pick and would I consider them the same as new nettles coming up in spring?

I would love to harvest some and dry them to see me over the winter months. I'm going to be drinking them raw so it says to use young nettles, surely that is what these are, but its September??

Thanks for any advice guys

honeythewitch

Try them. It isnt as if they become poisonous in the autumn is it? If you don't like it you haven't lost much.

Angelina-M

honeythewitch wrote: »

Try them. It isnt as if they become poisonous in the autumn is it? If you don't like it you haven't lost much.

Thanks

I did try them actually, well I picked off half a dozen leaves and added to a smoothie earlier and I seem fine lol! However the websites say that picking after June means the nettles can cause calcium to deposit in the kidneys and other not so good things so I don't fancy drying them if they are not suitable for eating.

That said, these are young plants so I can only imagine that the fields have been cut maybe causing a second harvest?

Mojisola

Angelina-M wrote: »

I did try them actually, well I picked off half a dozen leaves and added to a smoothie earlier and I seem fine lol!

However the websites say that picking after June means the nettles can cause calcium to deposit in the kidneys and other not so good things so I don't fancy drying them if they are not suitable for eating.

You would have to eat an awful lot of nettles before you started causing problems like that.

A few leaves in a smoothie aren't going to do any harm, especially if you're going to be picking from the young plants that haven't flowered yet.

Before smoothies became popular, nettles would have been eaten like spinach and, by late summer, they are getting tough and very bitter so not a tasty vegetable.

Angelina-M

Mojisola wrote: »

You would have to eat an awful lot of nettles before you started causing problems like that.

A few leaves in a smoothie aren't going to do any harm.

Before smoothies became popular, nettles would have been eaten like spinach and, by late summer, they are getting tough and very bitter so not a tasty vegetable.

Ah thanks, that's good to know.

I spent a lot of time examining different nettle plants today, looking at the different stages of seeds maturity so I can understand when best to harvest seeds.

The patch of young nettles I found though just seem unusual at this time of year. I'm researching now and it does seem that its possible to get a second harvest so I could be in luck here!

Mojisola

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/30/nettle-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall
"Keep your eye out throughout the late summer and autumn, though, because young crops of freshly seeded nettles will grow wherever and whenever they get a chance. And, tiresome as nettle-control may be for the gardener, the strimmer is the nettle gourmet's friend: nettles that have been mown down will reliably put up a burst of fresh growth."

Angelina-M

Mojisola wrote: »

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/30/nettle-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall
"Keep your eye out throughout the late summer and autumn, though, because young crops of freshly seeded nettles will grow wherever and whenever they get a chance. And, tiresome as nettle-control may be for the gardener, the strimmer is the nettle gourmet's friend: nettles that have been mown down will reliably put up a burst of fresh growth."

Yes! That will do for me then... off on Monday morning with my carrier bag to harvest some!!

But surely I can't be the only one harvesting nettles now? Do you all have your winter stock or am I the only nutty one amongst us? :rotfl:

retiredlady

Once you've picked the leaves can you freeze them for later use?

Angelina-M

retiredlady wrote: »

Once you've picked the leaves can you freeze them for later use?

Hi there.

Yes from what i've read you can freeze them loosely and just break off a clump as you would with spinach. I'm going to dry some as I have no freezer space however.

I will try to then rehydrate them to use them as fresh for things like a replacement for spinach in pasta, quiche etc.... Just wish I had discovered them in spring!!

Mojisola

Angelina-M wrote: »

I will try to then rehydrate them to use them as fresh for things like a replacement for spinach in pasta, quiche etc.... Just wish I had discovered them in spring!!

I don't think this won't work. You can use dried nettles (and other leaves) for tea or to add flavouring to recipes but they won't rehydrate back to their original state. Slimy green goo is probably the best you'd get.

Angelina-M

Mojisola wrote: »

I don't think this won't work. You can use dried nettles (and other leaves) for tea or to add flavouring to recipes but they won't rehydrate back to their original state. Slimy green goo is probably the best you'd get.

Thanks for the heads up!

I make a nice spinach pasta with frozen spinach and I thought dried may work the same. Ok I will probably try and squeeze some nettle leaves into the freezer, even though the door hardly shuts already lol!

I've just had a nice smoothie with some fresh seeds/fruit of the nettle from my garden. I hope it gives me energy as i'm beginning to feel the autumn fatigue dig in.