Sacha wrote:
On 30/11/06 01:09, in article ,
"jellyfish" wrote:
hi guys,
i watched a programme the other day and the woman was boiling
up and simmering stinging nettles then using the water for her
vegetables, 2 quick questions...1.what is the benefit of this and is it
ok? and 2..for which vegetables would this be good for and which are
best to avoid?..she had MASSIVE tomatoes tho lol
People have long eaten the young leaves of nettles and I believe they're
very high in Vitamin C. I could see some health benefits in using the water
as stock to make soup but not for boiling veg. because that alone removes
nutrients. Steaming is far healthier and tastier, too.
--
My sister - a mother earth organic type from when knee-high to a
grass-hopper - produces what she calls (roughly translated) nettle
slurry. She basically steeps an armfull of nettles into a large barrel
of rain water, and let it ferment (no boiling, just steeping), then
uses the resulting awfully smelly slurry to feed her plants (veg in
particular). Interestingly, she also uses it in a sprayer as a
pesticide. It works wonders for houseplants, according to herself,
though she likes to leave them out for a couple of hours till the
stench has eased off... I can't say I blame the pest for looking for
alternative abode.
Maybe this is the kind of thing the OP is referring to, rather than
consumption by humans of nettles as a veg (and young nettles do make a
lovely soup).
Cat(h)