The only word that used to come to mind when I heard \u201cStinging Nettles\u201d was \u201couch!\u201d That all changed when a young Scandinavian work colleague challenged me to give them a try in a soup. Boy, was I in for a surprise!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Stinging nettles are a wild herbal plant. In the spring of the year \u2013 especially here in western Europe, you can find them most anywhere. They grow in gardens, back yards and forest, but most of time, you\u2019ll most likely find them along a roadside, near weeds and dandelions. I won\u2019t even pretend that I deliberately left the comforts of home in search of these little buggers. In fact, that very same colleague, kindly collected them for me and had them delivered to my home.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Here\u2019s the thing: they are called \u201cstinging\u201d for a reason. When you touch the leaves with your bare hands, it leaves a burning sensation. If you\u2019re like me, allergic to almost everything outdoors, it\u2019s a recipe for disaster. So, if you are going to try them, do wear protective rubber gloves. The stinging subsides once you place the leaves in the freezer or boil them. I did both. That\u2019s why we\u2019re only having them in late summer.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Nettles also have some medicinal benefit. They are rich in magnesium, and vitamins A and B. Some studies suggest that they are a natural anti-inflammatory and are a natural pain reliever for those suffering from arthritis. Caution: do not eat them if you are on medications; always check with your doctor first and never eat them raw.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Finally, I must admit I was a little hesitant about how they would taste. Cooking them in a hot chicken broth, the nettles take on a consistency like most greens (collards, mustard, kale, spinach), except the mixture smells a lot like green tea. Adding lemon juice and salt to the broth cuts any hint of bitterness and cream the soup with plain yogurt instead of creme cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche .<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Now, for the verdict: once you take the broth mixture and cream it into a soup with potatoes, it\u2019s actually quite delicious. You know you\u2019ve got a winner win the teen girl is on board as well. Check out our version below. If you have a recipe of your own, we\u2019d love to hear about it. Enjoy!<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nettles: an herbaceous perennial flowing plant in the family of “Urticaceae”. Originally native to Europe, much of termperate Asia and western North Africa, it is now found worldwide, including New Zealand and North America. *Wikipedia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":14,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[12,9,24,209,124,31,6,312,304],"tags":[51,50,49,69,48,61,71,70,21,72],"class_list":["post-11","recipes","type-recipes","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","category-cream","category-dinner","category-herbs","category-legumes","category-mild","category-omnivore","category-spring","category-thick","category-white","tag-carrot","tag-celery","tag-garlic","tag-green-onion","tag-leeks","tag-lemon","tag-milk","tag-mushrooms","tag-nettle","tag-parsley"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplysouperlicious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/recipes\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplysouperlicious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/recipes"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplysouperlicious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/recipes"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplysouperlicious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplysouperlicious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplysouperlicious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/simplysouperlicious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplysouperlicious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/simplysouperlicious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}