Nettle Leaves – Who hasn’t had a nasty encounter with these stinging garden invaders!
If you have been stung in the past, however, you can get your own back by eating them…
Nettle Nutrition
Nettle leaves are rich in Vitamin C and Iron, as well as a plethora of phytonutrients.
They are similar in taste and nutrition to spinach, cabbage and kale, just with a little more zing.
Nettle Stings
Nettle leaves are covered with thousands of long, thin, hollow hairs. When they make contact with the skin, they deliver a cocktail of formic acid and histamines. It is these chemicals that cause the painful reaction and swelling.
Though these chemicals don’t sound very appetising, they are completely neutralised when the nettles are cooked or eaten.
Nettle leaves may be tricky to harvest due to their painful sting, but they grow rampantly, so can be a great source of locally available free food!
Eating Nettle Leaves
The most common ways to consume nettles are either in the form of nettle tea or nettle soup.
You can also eat the leaves straight off the plant, not for the faint hearted!
We would recommend eating them in our latest addition to our range of organic gluten free sausages.
This is a much less perilous manner in which to do so, and tastier too!
The leafy green, botanical, mineral taste of the smoked nettle leaves and garlic combines beautifully with the meaty, salty, fatty taste of the organic pork mince in the sausage.
Available this month only with a 10% discount over the normal sausage price.
