Stinging Nettles
Scientific Name: Urtica diocia
Plant family: Urticaceae; nettle family
This food herb is one of the most fascinating plants to me and it’s hard not to put it in all my formulas for herbal remedies. Read below to learn more about why this herb is a super-star in my eyes!
Range: Nettles is native to Eurasia, northern Africa, and North America and is widely cultivated and naturalized throughout the temperate world, including South America and Oceania.
Identification: Nettles has an unmistakable trait that truly clinches its identification: when you brush up against the plant, it delivers a painful stinging sensation that lasts for a few hours to a couple of days. Ironically, the juice of nettles can remove the sting! How cool is that?! Nettles has opposite leaves with large teeth and distinct venation that gives the leaf a “quilted” texture. There are several strains of nettles, each with its own type of leaves. The medicinal and edible uses are identical for all strains. The most common type of nettles in North America has leaves that are triangular to loosely heart shaped. With all strains, the leaves become more elongate as the plant matures.
Nettles grows close to humans and waterways- it thrives in open, fertile ground. You’ll find it growing in floodplains, at forest edges, in ditches, in hedgerows, along open trail sides, and on old farms, especially in barnyards with compost and manure piles. It’s rare to see stinging nettles deep in the forest, as it prefers a little more sunshine. If you brush up against a stinging plant in the forest in eastern North America, you’ve likely encountered wood nettle.
Propogation: Root division is the easiest way to propagate nettles, as it has a high rate of success. Technically, the rhizomes are being divided, but its all the same for us herb propagators. It’s easiest to separate the rhizomes in early spring when the plant leaves are just beginning to emerge, but you can divide in the fall.
When growing from seed, stratify seeds for one to two months. Don’t cover the seeds when planting; instead gently scuffle them into the top layer of the soil, as the seeds require light to germinate. Seedlings emerge in seven to fourteen days at 65-75 degrees F. Another option is to direct sow into garden beds in the fall. Nettles spreads prolifically by runners, forming solid patches in areas where it is generally pleased with its lot in life.
Nettles is a dynamic accumulator– a term used to describe plants with the ability to mine nutrients (such as nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and calcium) from deep in the soil. These nutrients are concentrated in the plants leaves and then are released into the soil when the plants die or lose their leaves. Nettles can be added to the compost pile to accelerate it or used as fertilizing mulch. Many gardeners make compost tea out of nettles by soaking the leaves in a bucket until fermentation occurs. The “tea” can then be used to water plants, thus fertilizing them, along with adding beneficial microorganisms.
Harvesting: Stinging nettles is considered a perennial vegetable, as it doesn’t need to be planted from seed each year, instead regrowing from the roots yearly, making it less energy-intensive to cultivate than annual crops. Nettles shoots emerge in the earliest spring. Harvest the new growth weekly and you will be rewarded with bushier plants and tender new regrowth longer through the growing season. If you pick nettles for food, pinch off the topmost leaves, leaving the fibrous lower stem behind. You can also strip the upper leaves from the stem in the spring (they start getting fibrous in the summer)
When harvesting for medicine, wait until the plants are knee-high and pick before they flower. Wear thick clothing that covers arms and ankles and use leather gardening gloves, preferably ones that cover the forearms, such as leather rose gloves. Use a scythe or similar tool for large-scale harvesting, and use pruners or kitchen scissors for smaller yields.
Springtime nettles (primo for picking)
Edibility and Preparation: Nettles is highly revered as a nutritious spring green, eaten steamed or added to soups and stir-fries. The sting disappears when the leaves are cooked or dried. The cooked greens and tea of nettles are high in chlorophyll and vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and iron. Use nettles greens anywhere you would use spinach or kale. We love to add them to quiche, omelets, soup, and especially pesto or green pate.
Another way to enjoy nettles rich store of minerals is to prepare an herbal vinegar from the dried leaves. Combine nettles with dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), cleavers (Galium aparine), and chickweed (Stellaria media) to create a nutritive spring tonic. You can use this as a base is salad dressing or add it to dark leafy greens. When you add vinegar to foods that are high in minerals, such as dark leafy greens, the acidity helps the body assimilate those minerals. If you top off salads and cooked greens with mineral-rich assimilation of the food AND the minerals in the vinegar. See here how to make Nettles Vinegar!
Medicinal Preparations: Infusion, tincture, vinegar, pesto, cooked greens, juice, broth, powder, capsules, and finishing salts.
Medicinal Uses: Nettles is a supreme blood builder and nourishing tonic. Because its a food plant, it can be consumed frequently, with less attention to dosage as compared with other herbs. With its high iron content, it is highly useful for iron-deficiency anemia. It can be consumed during pregnancy and the postpartum to help birthing parents with extra nutritional demands, and it is especially helpful for rebuilding iron levels after heavy bleeding during childbirth. Nettles is also used to promote breastmilk production, especially for thin people with lower nutritional reserves.
If mineral extraction is your aim, do not use an alcohol-based tincture, as alcohol is a poor solvent of minerals. Its best taken as something like wild food, vinegar or in a tea. I have it prepared in a tea blend that’s called “Nutritive and Nourishing” tea blend with other herbs that compliment it for overall wellness and homeostasis. You can find it here including directions on how to use it!
Vinegar extracts are another wonderful option, as the minerals are effectively extracted by the acetic acid. Nettles is a spring tonic and blood cleanser, and it is an excellent herbal ally during fasting and cleansing. It is often used for eczema, psoriasis, and acne and can be combined with other alteratives for this purpose, such as red clover (Trifolium pratense) and burdock (Arctium lappa and A. minus).
The leaves and seeds of nettles are used as a diuretic and kidney tonic. The leaves can be employed in formulas to treat urinary tract infections-combine nettles in an infusion with uva-ursi (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), goldenrod (Solidago spp.), and corn silk (Zea mays). The root of nettles is an ingredient in many herbal formulas used to treat BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia). Nettles leaf enhances the excretion of uric acid, making it useful in the treatment of gout. It is also used to help dissolve kidney stones. The seeds have an extra affinity for supporting kidney function, but the leaves are also used as a kidney tonic.
Nettles going to seed
It is one of the best herbs to take daily when you feel tired or depleted. Nettles can help to rebuild reserves after a long or intense illness.
Note that nettles can be very drying when ingested daily, resulting in dry skin and sinus membranes. To counter this effect, you can add demulcent herbs like marshmallow root (Althaea officinalis) and it balances the effects beautifully.
Nettles is also a great anti-histamine for allergies accompanied with other anti-histamine herbs like purple dead nettle (Lamium purpurea) and goldenrod (Soldiago spp.) I have that in a tea blend available as well, here!
Hope you enjoy befriending Stinging Nettles and enjoy the benefits it has to offer you!