Nettle
Urtica dioica
Scorned by gardeners, nettle is one of the oldest wild greens of Europe and Québec; it loses its sting the moment it is dried or cooked.
Portrait
Everyone knows nettle, at least by the shins. Its toothed, elongated heart-shaped leaves are covered in fine hairs that break on contact and deliver their sting. It grows in dense colonies on rich soil: roadsides, old farmsteads, the edges of fields where cattle once passed. Wherever there is nettle, there have been people.
A long history
Nettle cloth has been found in Bronze Age graves in Denmark. During the First World War, Germany made uniforms from it when cotton ran out. In the kitchen it stands in for spinach in soups, pestos and green pasta, with a deeper flavour somewhere between green bean and green tea. English cheesemakers wrap Cornish Yarg in its leaves.
Harvest
Étienne picks the young tops in spring, before flowering, when the leaves are tender and dark green. Thick gloves, scissors, and a basket you don't pack too tightly. Dried in the shade, nettle loses all its sting and keeps a colour that is almost black.
In the workshop
As a tea it gives a green infusion with a grassy, faintly salty taste that pairs well with mint or raspberry leaf. It also goes into some of the shop's macerated oils, where it lends its deep green hue.
Our products are artisanal plant-based preparations. They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
