Nettle Tea

One of my 4:00 tea time favorites lately has been nettle tea. 

Surprisingly, that annoying weed that we have all come to know and hate, stinging nettle, has a storehouse of nutrition!

Stinging nettle has been used for medicinal purposes since at least 3 B.C.!!

Get this, according to livestrong.com, ten grams of raw spinach has eight milligrams of magnesium and ten milligrams of calcium. Pretty good, right?  Well, stinging nettle has eighty-six milligrams of magnesium and two hundred-ninety milligrams of calcium!!! 

A toast to health!

The University of Maryland has lots more of information on this little wonder. Because it is known to lower blood pressure, blood sugar, and is a natural diuretic, one should be careful if they are on certain medications.

Oh, and don't forget to wear gloves when picking and handling these weeds! They don't call it stinging nettle for nothin'!

Earl Grey was interested in all that extra calcium too.

...and just because he is so cute. :))

So, how do we make the tea? 

I am so glad you asked!

Right now, we have these weeds in abundance...so first, put on some gloves, grab some scissors, a basket, and go find you a plant.
Here's what they look like...

Pointed leaves and fine hairs on the stem.

After that, cut several of the stems off. If you uproot the whole plant, that works too, and you can just leave the root on there (even more nutrition). 

Next, fill your kitchen sink with warm water and a tablespoon of vinegar. Place your contents in the sink, meanwhile bringing a pot of water to a boil on the stove. Once your water reaches a rolling boil, turn the burner off, and transfer the plants to the pot. Take off your gloves, cover the pot with a lid, and go to bed. The next morning you will have a delicious pot/kettle of nettle tea. The sting is gone, so it is just nettle tea. :) 

Oh! The more nettle used, the greener it gets...until it almost reaches an aqua color. 

So pretty!!

Recipe: Nettle Tea

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

large handful (gloveful) of stinging nettle

1 tbsp. of vinegar

water

honey or stevia optional

Directions:

Caution: Be sure to wear gloves when handling stinging nettle!

Fill sink with warm water and vinegar, then place stinging nettle in sink to rinse. Meanwhile, bring a quart of water to a rolling boil. Once water is boiling, turn off the burner and transfer the stinging nettle into the pot. Cover, and leave overnight.