How To Harvest & Use Stinging Nettle
I remember my Gram telling (little) me that stinging nettle was good to eat. I found it preposterous at the time that this irritating weed could be edible, much less a delicious wild green. After all, in my experience, this plant was the source of many a painful rash!
I was no stranger to the idea of eating weeds as a kid. I munched on dandelions, plantain, cattail shoots and roots, cowslips (marsh marigold), mushrooms from the horse pasture, and wild fruits and berries. But the idea of eating stinging nettle was maybe just a bit far fetched for me to wrap my adolescent brain around.
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Harvesting Stinging Nettles
Fast forward to this spring and you’ll find (big) me out in the weeds with my gloves on, harvesting stinging nettle to cook up with eggs or pasta, dehydrate for tea, or blanch and freeze for the winter. I’ve returned to my roots with a more open mindset about trying wild edibles that might seem a bit odd or out of the ordinary.
Identification of Stinging Nettle
Stinging nettle has an erect, squarish stem and serrated, simple, pointed, ovate leaves that are arranged in opposite pairs. The stem and underside of leaves are covered in small hairs that deliver a sting loaded with formic acid that can irritate skin for several hours or up to 2 or 3 days. The plants begin growing early in spring and may have a purplish tint to their leaves in cold weather, changing to a deep green as temperatures warm. The stalks become very fibrous and may be used for creating cordage as plants mature. In late summer their stalks can grow taller than me. Stinging nettle is also used as a natural dye at any time during the growing season, and can be used to make cheese. Yep, cheese!
For more help with identification, check out this website.
Note: Any time you are foraging for wild edibles, be sure to consult a reliable guide for proper identification. Collecting and eating wild plants carries a certain amount of risk and I cannot be held responsible if you don’t practice due diligence in identifying plants before eating them.
Leaves Are Best When Harvested In Spring
Stinging nettles are at their best in spring, before they reach 12″ tall. But you can harvest the topmost leaves into the summer.
Wear gloves to protect your hands from the stinging hairs or you will likely regret it!
Clip or pinch off several sets of leaves from the top of the plant. The stalks and older leaves are fibrous and don’t cook up as tender.
Using Stinging Nettle
Wash leaves as soon after harvest as you can manage. You’ll probably want to wear kitchen gloves or use tongs to handle. Drain and refrigerate or use immediately.
Cook or Dehydrate
Don’t try to eat stinging nettle raw! It must be cooked or dehydrated before consuming. (I have heard a couple of people say they eat in raw, but that just sounds like crazy talk to me.) 🙂
Use stinging nettle as a substitute for spinach in any recipe where the greens are cooked. You may use it in omelettes, soups and stews, cooked greens with a drizzle of apple cider vinegar, or mixed into pasta dishes.
Make an herbal tea by steeping leaves in hot, but not quite boiling, water until it is green. Add a bit of lemon and honey, if desired. Use approximately 1 cup of leaves to 2 cups water.
To Freeze…
Blanch for 1 minute in boiling water, chill, pack tightly into freezer bags and store in freezer for winter.
To Dehydrate…
Dry clean leaves in a single layer in food dehydrator until crispy, or hang in small bunches in a dry, room temperature spot until leaves are fully dehydrated. Store in an airtight container in a dark place.
Be Adventurous!
You can be an urbanite and still take a walk on the wild side by hunting down edible wild foods!
Try stinging nettles in a wide range of recipes and stash some away for the winter. Foraging for wild edibles is an adventure and harvesting stinging nettles is extra adventurous. Someday you can tell your grand kids that those stinging weeds are edible…and they will think you are a little bit nutty. (Sorry Gramma! I know you weren’t crazy now!)
For my next foraging project, I intend to create homemade stinging nettle rennet to make cheese. Sign up for my newsletter if you want to get posts like this in your inbox. 🙂
Do you eat stinging nettles? What is your favorite way to use them? Leave a comment!
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Hi Lisa, I always steam them (not blanch) in a little water before using as a green. For pesto, however, in a blender or food processor, they can be used raw. As long as they are ground up very well, raw is fine!
Hi Linda,
Thanks for sharing your experience with using stinging nettle! Now I want to try nettle pesto and steamed nettle. 🙂 Have a great day!
Am wondering if putting the nettle plants into a blender and chopping them up (not puree them) before drying would work as preparation for nettle tea. I have a huge patch, but haven’t done anything with them. They are about 2.5 to 3 feet high. I’ve already purchased nettle tea and liked it, so I want to try making some myself. If one does get blisters from the stings, what is a good remedy?
Hi Elisabeth,
I would just dry the leaves whole so you aren’t losing the juice and nutrients in the leaves. Wear gloves when harvesting to prevent irritating your skin. I haven’t had blisters before but my hands get very sore and red if I don’t wear gloves. I haven’t found a remedy for irritated skin but I find that it goes away after a day or so.
At the size that you describe, I would start harvesting the leaves and drying them soon. The young leaves can be cooked and eaten or you can dehydrate all of the leaves for making tea. Best wishes!
Hi Lisa, I’m new to your site. I like to prepare my nettles for tea by first drying them , then I pack a Mason jar to the top with dried leaves. Then I pour boiling water all the way to the rim of the jar and screw the lid on tight. Let it sit for 4-8 hours. This makes the most medicinal nettle tea I’ve ever used.
Thanks for your wonderful site.
Thanks so much for sharing your instructions, Michael! Glad to have you here!
I have grown, harvested, and used stinging nettles for many years. I love nettle tea, and on occasion , I have cooked up the leaves in casseroles and such. I use heavy gloves and clippers, but for arthritis and joint pain, I shove the affected limb into the plants and take the sting. It relieves inflation and decreases pain. (After the sting wears off)
Hi Felicia,
Thanks for sharing this info. I haven’t tried this and now my stinging nettle patch has been bulldozed for a new subdivision. Sigh.
Just began eating stinging nettles, raw (uncooked), after watching some Youtube videos. There are LOTS of nettles in the various parks I visit. Some of the videos showed how to grasp the leaves (gloved hands, for the most part). Then squish the leaves into a ball, making sure to squish them thoroughly. Pop the wad into your mouth, and chew it well before swallowing. One man said that he occasionally felt a mild sting on his tongue for a short time (less than 30 seconds, as the enzymes in saliva neutralize the formic acid in the leaves). I have used this method to eat wads of four or six leaves, and haven’t felt a sting in my mouth yet. I did, however, manage to get some stings on the back of my hands, when the undersides of adjacent leaves poked into the fine mesh on the backs of the gardening gloves I used. (Another fine mesh I got myself into!). I DID see at least two people picking the leaves off the plants, using just bare hands, but I am not about to try it myself!
Hi Mark,
I have heard of people doing this, but I haven’t tried it. Sometimes I find nettles and I don’t have any gloves so I pick them with bare hands. Thanks for the idea…Hopefully I can find some nettles this year to try this.
I collect and use Nettle for house hold use, dried I use it as a herb as well for drinking tea’s. I use it as a booster in my milking goat or sheep’s feed when in milk.
I really enjoy the taste of nettle as a fresh spring green. in many dishes.
Hi Val,
I enjoy eating it as a green too. I tried the tea and wasn’t a huge fan, but with some honey and lemon it was pretty good. I have read that milk thistle is good for milk production, but I hadn’t read that about stinging nettle. Good to know! Thanks for sharing!