Whether freshly sprouting, during flowering or in its seed heads - the nettle can be harvested over a long period of time. After the harvest, you need to act quickly because the essential oils quickly evaporate, vitamin C is lost and the leaves look unsightly.
How can you process nettles?
Stinging nettles can be processed in many ways, e.g. as spinach, tea or manure. To prevent the hairs from burning, leaves can be ground or boiled. Nettle tea helps with drainage, while nettle manure can be used as fertilizer in the garden.
Stop the burning of your hair
Stinging nettles are known for their burning hairs. They don't make picking without gloves much fun. Once the nettles have been picked, the hairs can easily be rendered harmless.
If you want to eat fresh nettle leaves, take a leaf between your fingers and rub it. This process causes the hairs to break and the nettle no longer burns. You can also destroy the hairs by placing the nettle leaves on a cloth, folding it over and rolling it over it with a rolling pin. Cooking and mixing also destroy the stinging hairs of the nettle.
Process nettle into manure
The nettle hairs do not necessarily have to be broken by grinding and the like. If you want to make a manure, you simply need to roughly cut up the plant parts of the nettle, e.g. B. put it in a bucket of water with scissors. No further processing is necessary, just regular stirring.
Process nettle into spinach
You don't have to buy spinach or grow it in the garden. Stinging nettles taste at least as good and have far more nutrients to boot. This is how you process the nettle leaves into nettle spinach:
- Separate leaves
- steam together with butter, onions and nutmeg
- Pour some water and heat for 20 minutes
- s alt and lightly puree – done
Stinging nettle as tea
The nettle also tastes good when made into tea - admittedly not for everyone. The nettle leaves, flowers and/or seed heads can be dried, but also used fresh.
The fresh or dried plant parts are poured with boiling water. Let it steep for 10 minutes, strain and you're done! The tea helps, among other things, to dehydrate the body. However, you have to drink about 3 cups of it every day.
Tip
The root of the nettle can also be processed. Dried and ground into a powder, it is suitable for tea, for example.
