There are a number of plants that are extremely easy to grow
and we discard them often as "weeds" simply because they
are too inexpensive and too common to be of high value. A
big mistake! Most of them contain more beneficial nutrients
than the expensive greenhouse salad from the supermarket.
I had previously written about Dandelion Salad
and I still love it.
Another easy to grow plant is Nettle. Common stinging Nettle
grows well in soils with high nitrogen content such as fresh
compost. Nettle stings you when you touch it with bare hands but
it is easy to handle with normal gardening gloves. I decided this
year to grow a row of Nettle plants around the salad patch. It
protects the salad well against rabbits and ground hogs that we
have here in the area.
Most people seem to use Nettle in order to make teas but
you can actually eat it. Common stinging Nettle does
not sting anymore when cooked and it is similar to spinach
in consistency and taste.
Here is a delicious and easy to make Nettle dish.
You need:
Fresh Nettle: Nettle should harvested before the plant flowers. You want a young Nettle plant. Nettle changes it's taste after it has flowered.
Cream
Montreal-style smoked meat
A bit of pepper (to taste)
Wash a bunch of freshly picked Nettle and cut it into smaller pieces.
Leave out the harder bottom stems of the Nettle plant but use
all the leaves. Cook it with two or three spoon full of water in
a pot with lid. The water will cause the heat to distribute quickly and
evenly. Add a bit of cream and some smoked meat.
The dish is ready in
about 5 to 10 minutes.
Great tasting health food that is expensive and easy to grow.
Make sure you let one Nettle grow to maturity to allow it to produce
seeds. Just let the seeds fall on the ground and you will again have
an abundance of Nettle plants next year.
