Stinging Nettle — The Most Nutritious Plant On Earth?
Learn Your Land・2 minutes read
Stinging nettle is a versatile plant with nutritional and medicinal benefits, such as treating benign prostatic hyperplasia, allergies, and diabetes, but proper harvesting techniques are essential to avoid stings and maximize its uses. Harvesting techniques vary throughout the year, with early season gathering for cooking and later season harvesting for teas, highlighting the plant's adaptability and rich flavor profiles.
Insights
- Stinging nettle, a perennial plant with stinging hairs that inject chemicals into the skin, belongs to the Urticaceae family and has various nutritional benefits and medicinal properties, making it a valuable plant for health and wellness.
- Proper harvesting of stinging nettle is essential to avoid stings, with different methods recommended throughout the year, such as gathering young plants early in the season for teas, tender tops for cooking in summer while wearing gloves, and dehydrating leaves in late fall for a spinach substitute.
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Recent questions
What are the medicinal properties of stinging nettle?
Stinging nettle has been found to alleviate symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, seasonal allergies, and diabetes through various clinical trials.
How should stinging nettle be harvested to avoid stings?
Stinging nettle should be harvested early in the season when the plant is young and less than 2 inches tall or later in the year by gathering the tender tops of the plant to avoid stings.
What are the nutritional benefits of stinging nettle?
Stinging nettle is highly nutritious, containing about 30-40% protein, non-heme iron, calcium, magnesium, carotenoids, and a significant amount of vitamin C.
Where is stinging nettle typically found?
Stinging nettle is commonly found in sunny openings near streams, creeks, fields, and disturbed areas, forming dense colonies connected by underground rhizomes.
How do stinging nettle's stinging hairs work?
Stinging nettle's stinging hairs, called trichomes, act like hypodermic needles, injecting chemicals like acetylcholine and histamine into the skin, causing a stinging sensation.
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Summary
00:00
"Stinging Nettle: Wild Plant with Medicinal Benefits"
- Stinging nettle, or Urtica dioica, is a favorite wild plant for the speaker, who transplanted it into a garden and watched it grow over the years.
- The video will cover various aspects of stinging nettle, including its stinging mechanism, identification, nutritional benefits, and medicinal properties.
- Stinging nettle's stinging hairs, called trichomes, act like hypodermic needles, injecting chemicals like acetylcholine and histamine into the skin.
- Stinging nettle belongs to the Urticaceae family, with about 54 genera and over 2600 species worldwide, and in North America, there are about six genera.
- In Pennsylvania, two species of stinging nettle are found: Urtica dioica and Urtica urens, with subspecies dioica being native to Europe and subspecies gracilis native to the United States.
- Stinging nettle is a perennial plant that can grow up to 2 meters in height, forming dense colonies connected by underground rhizomes.
- Stinging nettle's leaves are opposite each other, coarsely toothed, and can display shades of green and purple, typically found in sunny openings near streams, creeks, fields, and disturbed areas.
- Stinging nettle is highly nutritious, containing about 30-40% protein, non-heme iron, calcium, magnesium, carotenoids, and a significant amount of vitamin C.
- Research has shown stinging nettle's effectiveness in alleviating symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia, seasonal allergies, and diabetes through various double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trials.
- Proper harvesting of stinging nettle is crucial to avoid stings, with the best time being early in the season when the plant is young and less than 2 inches tall, or later in the year by harvesting the tender tops of the plant.
12:46
Harvesting and Managing Stinging Nettles for Tea
- Harvest sting Nettles in the summertime for bigger leaves, which can be dried for making teas; earlier in the season, gather tender tips for cooking, resembling spinach, while wearing gloves to avoid stings.
- Throughout the year, manage stinging Nettles carefully: in spring, harvesting without gloves is safe, but in summer, opt for the tender tops or use gloves and scissors; in late fall, consider dehydrating the leaves for tea, as the plant can be a nutritious spinach substitute with a rich, brothy flavor.
