Nettles have so many health benefits, they should be one of our most valued plants. They are a powerful anti-inflammatory, high in Omega 3's, and great for cleansing and detoxing. We're lucky they grow like weeds in the semi-wild places around our town. Nettles can be used in so many beneficial ways it's totally worth it to learn about this plant, and find ways to use it on a regular basis. Here is one of our favorite uses.
When they're in season, in very early spring, nettles can be harvested in semi-urban wilderness areas. Check your local parks and forests for this plant, and wear gloves! The dried herbs are safe to touch, but fresh nettles will leave you with a painful, temporary rash. If not available in the wild, you can buy dry nettles by the pound from Mountain Rose Herbs.
I drink an infusion of the leaves every day, and have felt the health effects since we started drinking them. As an anti-inflammatory, nettles encourage the immune system to not overreact to every little thing. I used to easily get rashes from the slightest scratch; I just thought I had "sensitive skin", but it seems like my inflammatory response was a little off-kilter. Nettles have definitely helped.
Instructions:
Add boiling water to 1/2 c dried nettles (or a big handful of dried leaves) in a 4c French press or mason jar for 4-8 hours.
After steeping for a few hours, it's dark green and lovely. You can steep it for less time if you're in a hurry, but it gets stronger with time.
I like it hot, some like it cold, and my 6 year old likes it warm with honey.
 |
I find that I can use the same nettles for two batches of tea, as long as the second batch steeps overnight or all day. Then, after straining out the infusion, the old tea leaves can be fed to the chickens! I usually mix them with whatever bowl of scraps I've got for them that day. I love that nothing is wasted. If you don't have chickens, you could put them in the garden as a nutritious mulch, or just add them to the compost.
For info on using fresh, wild harvested nettles, check out my article on raw nettle smoothies.
Below I'm linking to some relevant Amazon ads. Any purchases made through them helps support our family. Thanks in advance!
Share the article to support the site!
We Drink Nettle Tea
4/
5
Oleh
Mellow
45 comments
Write commentsWe harvested some nettles on a hike when we were camping on the Peninsula last spring. Ate them alongside our pasta dinner, sauteed with a little butter and finished with a squeeze of lemon. Mmm! But this inspires me to try drinking nettle tea!
ReplySo, maybe I am thinking of the wrong nettles, but how in the world do you harvest wild nettles without pain? The stinging nettles around our house are extremely painful when you touch them. I can't imagine eating or drinking them. Am I thinking of the same plant?
ReplyThey are the very same nettles! You are lucky you have them growing in you own yard... though I know they can be painful. I describe how I harvest them in this post: http://alifeunprocessed.blogspot.com/2012/03/wild-harvested-nettles-smoothie.html
ReplyFor the tea, I do buy dried nettles. Nettles are very nutritious and completely lose their sting when they are either cooked, dried, or blended. If you are feeling very brave, you can even carefully pick a young leaf, fold it up, pop it in your mouth and chew it up. I've done this a few times and never gotten stung. I believe the underside of the leaves have more sting. They have a mild flavor and are very good for you!
Nettles are quite unlike poison oak or ivy, by the way- the oils in those plants aren't rendered safe by drying or any other process I know of, and they should never be used for anything, just fyi!
Thank you for this post! I need to try that!
ReplyYou're welcome, I hope you like it!
ReplyI love nettles too! It is a base to a lot of my teas. I love the flavor and the numerous health benefits it has. I also use nettle in my daughter's eczema salve! It is amazing stuff.
ReplyThanks so much for sharing on Natural Living Mondays! I am excited to see what you have to share this week.
http://www.naturallivingmamma.com/2012/10/28/natural-living-mondays-blog-hop-8/
We love nettle leaf tea and often feed the used up leftovers for our chickens or even our goat herd (very healthy for milk does). Thank you for sharing.
ReplyNice! I bet you have some healthy goats!
ReplyThank you for this information. We have nettles growing like crazy. I will have to dry some for tea and YES, feed the leftovers to those chickens :) No waste is beautiful.
ReplyAnother great thing to do with nettles is make a fresh green smoothie. Here's instructions:
Replyhttp://alifeunprocessed.blogspot.com/2012/03/wild-harvested-nettles-smoothie.html
What a wonderful post about nettles and how make nettle tea ~ thanx ~ going to give it a try ~ ( A Creative Harbor) ^_^
ReplyThis is very interesting. I love Mt.Rose Herbs. I am your newest follower. Stop in and say hello www.everydayruralty.com
ReplyThanks Patrice. I like your blog name! I've "Liked" your blog on FB; your fritters look amazing. I was just looking at that article through a blog hop this morning!
ReplyStinging Nettles have been on my 'to get' list for a long time now. You have inspired me to stop putting it off. :) Thanks!
Replyvisiting from clever chicks.... I love nettles but not fond of the tea - tastes like spinach water to me. Instead, I use it as an ingredient in food recipes. Althoug... it does have a diuretic effect that I am more sensitive to than the rest of my family :-/ I have a few recipes for fresh (or dried nettle) on my blog too - www.mossytrees.blogspot.com. We are blessed that they grow wild in the lower 2 acres of our forest and I harvest them fresh in the spring - With rosegloves! Drying and heat neutralize the chemical that gives the sting. I find the sting not painful but, more frustratingly annoying as it causes my skin to prickle for a whole 24 hours - no wonder folks apply the sting to arthritis. My hens are not fond of nettle but I "trick them by mixing dried crushed leaves into their mash - he he he. :-] THanks for posting on chicken chick - I will be subscribing to you now... that fermented dandelion soda looks interesting! - danielle
ReplyHey Danielle,
ReplyIf you have fresh nettles, you should try making this:
http://alifeunprocessed.blogspot.com/2012/03/wild-harvested-nettles-smoothie.html
It's my favorite thing to do with nettles! I wish I had access to tons so locally, like you do!
Mellow
Thanks so much for sharing this post! I definitely want to give this a try:)
ReplyI found you via Anti-Procrastination Tuesday and I'm your newest follower:)
Stop by and say hello
Eliza K Prints
Thanks Eliza!
ReplyI have hard so many good things about Nettle Tea!! Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! :)
ReplyI hope to see you again this week!
This week is sponsored by Sugar and Spice Market! They are giving away a package of their gluten free sugar cookie mix and a package of their gluten free pancake/waffle mix! It is just in time for the holidays!
Link up starts tomorrow (thursday) at 7:05pm eastern time! Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
I've never tried this. Thanks for linking up!
ReplyThey are high in iron too aren't they? A true super-herb!
ReplyYes! They're so good for you.
ReplyGreat info to know! I don't have any wild nettles growing around us, but I am placing an order from Frontier Herbs in a few weeks. I'll have to try them!
ReplyThanks for sharing on the Winter on the HomeAcre Hop!
Do you order directly from Frontier Herbs? I've never done that! Do you have to have a large group purchase? I normally use Mountain Rose Herbs, but it would be nice to have another option for price comparison.
ReplyAwesome---Now I know why I want to plant those nettle seeds that I've been hanging on to. :)
ReplyVisiting from Wildcrafting Wednesday at The Self Sufficient Homeacre. :)
Kristi @Let This Mind Be in You
Wow, you have nettle seeds? I wish our yard was big enough to grow some, I just love nettles!
ReplyThanks for sharing on Wildcrafting Wednesday. This is awesome. I had no idea that Nettles were a cure, I just thought they were a tonic. Great share.
ReplyI have never tried nettle tea, but I am hoping this year to be able to get more into herbs. Thanks for linking up at what i am eating!
ReplyI knew nettles were good for you, but I didn't realise just how good! I really enjoyed learning more about them. I've always been a little scared of nettle tea, but now I've read this I will definitely give it a try. Thank you for sharing this post with The Hearth and Soul hop :)
ReplyThis is really interesting thank you. I knew nettles were good for you but hadn't go around to using them. I really want to learn more about different herbs and you are helping me with that so thank you!
ReplyThank you for sharing this with Healthy Vegan Fridays. Check back to see if you were one of the Top 3! We hope to see you again today. You can submit a post from Friday to end of Tuesday:
http://www.greenthickies.com/healthy-vegan-friday-30/
Thanks for sharing this with us at Eco-Kids Tuesday! Hope to see you again today! http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2013/02/bunnys-bento-box-eco-kids-tuesday.html
ReplyI didn't know nettle tea had so many benefits and was good for you. I will have to get me some, so maybe it will help me with my inflammation. Thanks for the information.
ReplyVisiting from Project Inspired.
Linda
I need to try nettle tea. I've been having a lot of ear issues during the winter for the past few years despite being healthier.
ReplyThanks for sharing this at Fabulously Frugal Thursday!
Thank you for sharing your post on The Creative HomeAcre Hop!
ReplyI hope to see you back tomorrow for our next hop!
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/04/the-creative-homeacre-10.html
I've always looked at the stinging nettles at the farmer's market and wondered what I could do with them. Will have to try this! Thank you for sharing at Tuned-in Tuesday! Hope to see you tomorrow! http://www.healthyrootshappysoul.com/2013/04/tuned-in-tuesday-blog-hop-5.html
ReplyI've never tried nettles before. Thanks for sharing your tips for tea on Tuesday Greens!
ReplyHi,
Replymay i know where i can buy or find this nettle tea herbs?
Hi I am so following. I love this article. I am an MS patient and of course my immune system overreats to everything, I had heard they were doing research with green tea maybe they should which to nettle tea for MS patients. Do you think the health food stores in california would have the nettles. I will have to talk to my neurologist seeing her in a few weeks to switch from shots to pills (hate shots). I'm lorraine at http://lorrainesresources.blogspot.com
ReplyOh I'm sure you can find it at health food stores that sell other herbs- or at least they should be able to special order it for you. But you can order it directly from Mountain Rose Herbs, or other herbal supply websites.
ReplyI'd love to know if you see a difference with nettle tea! And yes, I do think they should study it. Green tea gets so much publicity, but nettles are amazing.
I haven't tried harvesting my own nettle tea, but I love the flavor of the blend I buy. I like it hot without sugar. I tried it iced and didn't care for it, go figure. Thanks for posting to Real Food Fridays :)
ReplyLast week, my family went thru a bout of the flu. After much research, I found out that drinking nettle tea could help. I administered it to everyone. For myself, I became extremely gassy. I was already prone to having gas but nothing like this. It's not extremely painful. There is some cramping and excessive gas...way more than usual. Do you think the nettle tea contributed to this change?
ReplyI've never heard of that reaction, but if it's related to the tea, it's probably something you could work through and it would help you in the long run to drink it regularly. Just a guess! :)
ReplyHi:)
ReplyIm new to this post.
I have been looking everywhere for information on this and found your post.
I have a two and five year old who dont like to eat that healthy and i wanted to know if it is safe for them in tea form? Maybe everyday since it has so many important vitamins they really need right now.
Thanks
Nettles are absolutely safe, in tea or any other form. I would give it at any age, as often as they'll have it. My older son likes to drink it every day, my younger only when he's sick. I add raw honey to my kids' nettle tea, and they both really enjoy it. I don't sweeten mine, but it helps the kids like it better.
ReplyI buy mine on Amazon..Frontier brand organic $15 a pound, dried and sifted. ..
Reply