Nettle recipes- Food from the wild.

Kaz2904

I expect I'll have to find some fresh yeast then!

Seakay

Tesco gives it away (larger stores with an instore bakery), Sainsburys sells it but it is very cheap (again, only when there is an instore bakery, as opposed to somewhere where they do the final warming of premade loaves)

Farway

Yeast, do you have a health food shop or home brew type shop near you?

You can buy beer yeast in powdered form, you could use bread yeast in powdered form but would ned to activate it first, then just tip it into your brew [ignore the spread on toast, that was decades ago rules for cakes of yeast]

FWIW I made nettle beer years ago, unless you really do want to try it i suggest you get a decent beer kit, or try home made wine, plent of rhubarb around at present, and not long before elderflowers are out

Primrose

Am curious as to whether anybody on here has ever cooked nettles and if so, how did you use them and what did they taste like?

I'm not at bankruptcy's door but am always willing to give something a try if it's worth it. Having recently tried cooking the leaves of beetroot I've pulled and stored, was amazed how delicious they were and wonder whether nettles are just a "self sufficiency" fad, or whether they are really worth trying?

1sue23

I grow a patch in my garden and make nettle soup with the young shoots and it tastes great so worth trying ,I have also used it in quiches and again very nice, but you do need to use the younger shoots as the older ones can taste a little bitter.

Bongedone

I have not tried them yet but will in the spring when they are at their best again.

I will have to sneak it into a soup and not tell the OH till she tries it.

Pink.

make nettle soup rom time to time and it's a lovely peppery taste. There's an earlier thread on using nettles in cooking so I'll have a look for it and add your thread to it to keep the replies together.

Pink

ThrifTE

nettles are eaten regularly in Romania , jamie Oliver recently did a recipe with nettles. to define nettles, the ones with the little white flowers on not the nasty stinging variety.
these can be eaten in salads or hot dishes. i have had nettle soup in Romania it was just fine

phizzimum

just thought I'd bump this thread up, as last year I didn't think about foraging nettles until it was a bit late and the nettles were very big.

this seems like a useful thread if you ignore the little argument in the first few posts...

went for a walk today and on spotting lots of fresh nettles I was lamenting the fact I didn't have any rubber gloves or a bag. DH was very noble and picked some with his bare hands (I wasn't brave enough), and we carried them home in DD's cycle helmet!

I mixed them in with the toad in the hole batter. It was only then that DH told me he doesn't like eating them, he only picked them for me! Aww! That's true love, much better than picking me flowers!

Austin_Allegro

ThrifTE wrote: »

nettles are eaten regularly in Romania , jamie Oliver recently did a recipe with nettles. to define nettles, the ones with the little white flowers on not the nasty stinging variety.
these can be eaten in salads or hot dishes. i have had nettle soup in Romania it was just fine

As far as I am aware the 'nasty stinging variety' (is there any other kind?) is edible, though best when young or the top leaves only. Certainly I've eaten this type from my garden with no ill effects.