Sunday, April 26, 2009

wild food update

I'm sipping a lovely stinging nettle tea. It's supposed to make my hair brighter, thicker, and shinier, less grey (ok, I threw that one in), my skin clearer and healthier.  They are a good source of vitamin C, beta carotene, and B-complex vitamins - all of which I could use right now with the draggly ends of a cold continuing to hack themselves up (or not) from my chest.  They are 10 percent protein, "more than any other vegetable" and have high levels of minerals and easily absorbed amino acids.  Other than the sting, which is gone in a short time with a bit of cooking, what's not to love? And they taste good! Green, dark, nourishing...

And as for the aftereffects of the ramp saute from last night (in which I also used one stalk of fresh green garlic, if you recall) - upon waking this morning, my sweet angel baby described my breath with her first words: "Mama, your breath is oniony, with a little bit of garlic." Perceptive, ain't she?! At my raised eyebrows and amused smile, she added, "and some coffee, of course".  I think she made that part up.

*I'm getting most of my info on the nettles from Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and not so Wild) Places by "Wildman" Steve Brill with Evelyn Dean.  I am loving this book and have decided I should probably return it to my friend and get my own copy.

3 comments:

Chrystal said...

Cool, Debbie! I keep wondering, how do you harvest the nettle without getting stung? It scares me!

slim pickins said...

Well, I haven't done it myself yet, but you're supposed to use rubber gloves, or stick your hand in a plastic bag. And have some jewelweed or plantain nearby? These folks had bags and bags of it; I'll have to ask them next time.

Lisa said...

I had my mom drink nettle tea for a kidney infection....I think it was too earthy tasting for her. However, I like it.

Have you ever been to The Glass House down there close to Athens?? My sister, littlest one and I made a 2 hour trek down there to buy some really cool and unusual plants. We loved it!