Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)
Stinging Nettle is a perennial weed that returns each year after remaining dormant during the winter. It is fairly easy to find as it grows in moist woodlands, thickets, open areas, streambanks, and disturbed areas.
The leaves are covered with tiny, hollow, pointed hairs that contain small amounts of formic acid which can cause itching and burning if touched. For this reason we recommend using gloves or tongs when collecting and working with raw stinging nettle.
But don’t let that deter you! Heating or drying the leaves makes them perfectly safe to touch and delicious to eat! Stinging nettle has a mild taste quite similar to spinach, but without an iron flavour.
Flowering Stinging Nettle
It is best harvested in the spring, before the plant starts flowering. New, younger leaves are better in taste, as the leaves can become quite bitter once the plant has started flowering Try it in soup, pesto, tea, or just sauteed.
Before foraging, take a look at our Sustainable Foraging Guide!
Culture Connection
ᒪᓵᐣ Masân
Although stinging nettle is often seen as something to avoid, many nations learned how to cook it and use it as medicine. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) boiled it to use for a seasoned vegetable dish.
The Nîhithaw (Woodland Cree) also boiled the plant and used it as an aid in childbirth recovery. Members of Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Sioux) used the roots as a diuretic, and the Anishnaabe (Ojibway) would soak the leaves and use them as a treatment for heat rash.
Ingredients
Lavender Buttercream
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups powdered icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp dried culinary lavender, ground with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder
Cupcakes
1 3/4 cups packed raw young nettle leaves, blanched
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest and juice of ½ lemon
2 cups plain flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Cupcakes
In a medium bowl, cream softened butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add in eggs and mix.
Blanch and puree nettle leaves and add to mixture.
Add in vanilla extract, baking powder, lemon juice and zest, salt, and flour.
Mix until well combined
Add spoonfuls of the batter into a pre-lined muffin baking sheet
Bake at 325 F for 15 minutes
Buttercream
While the cupcakes are baking, make the icing.
Grind up the lavender in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder
In a small bowl, cream the butter. Add the icing sugar, lavender, and milk.
Ice the cupcakes when slightly cooled and enjoy!
Recipe from veggie desserts