Nettles

 

I spent a pleasant half an hour yesterday afternoon in my back yard cutting organic Stinging Nettle leaves into a bucket.  I was careful (this time) not to touch any part of the plant to avoid the stinging.  Nettles grow wild around here.  I used to pull them out, roots and all, and chuck them in my fire pit.  Now I’m just careful not to touch them.  I harvested a half a 5 gallon bucket of fresh nettle leaves with my vinyl kitchen gloves on – enough to fill six dehydrator trays.  This first batch is promised to my niece Brodie.

I remember once when my boys were small and they were playing a game of hide-and-seek in the back yard.  One of them (Taylor or Darin) hid in the nice big green plants and came yelping out, jumping up and down as they were stinging from head to toe:  he had hid in a patch of stinging nettle.

 

Stinging Nettles growing by the river

Urtica dioica, often called common nettle or stinging nettle, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant, native to Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and North America, and is the best-known member of the nettle genus Urtica.  Nettles are an amazing herb.    They’ve been used medicinally for hundreds of years to treat joint/muscle pain, eczema, arthritis, gout, anemia, urinary tract infections, hay fever, joint pain, tendonitis, insect bites, sprains, and strains.

It’s no wonder that stinging nettle is a wonder herb:  per 100 grams (1 cup = 89 grams) contains Total Fat 0.1 g; Sodium 4 mg; Potassium 334 mg; Total Carbohydrate 7 g; Dietary fiber 7 g; Sugar 0.2 g; Protein 2.7 g; Vitamin A 40%; Calcium 48%; Iron 8%; Vitamin B-6 5%; and Magnesium 14% (% based on a 2,000 calorie diet)!   It can be taken as a tea, tincture, or included in a skin cream.

As with all herbs, nettle should be respected when it comes to possible interaction with other herbs, medications, or medical conditions.  It’s always a good idea to speak with your health care professional.

• Nettle can raise or lower blood sugar so diabetics need to monitor their blood sugar closely to determine the effect of nettle on their own body.
• Stinging nettle can have a diuretic effect, raising the risk of dehydration, and it can increase the effects of Diuretic drugs
• Stinging nettle may affect the blood’s ability to clot, and could interfere with blood thinning drugs.
• Stinging nettle may lower blood pressure, so it could make the effects of drugs for high blood pressure stronger
• Because stinging nettle can act as a diuretic, it can increase the effects of these drugs,
• Stewed stinging nettle leaves enhance the anti-inflammatory effect of NSAIDs, reducing pain in acute arthritis.
• Pregnant women should not use nettle.

 

Drying Nettles

This morning, the nettles were crisp and dry in the dehydrator overnight.  I crunched them up in a Ziploc bag then put them in a Mason jar to store.  I’ll get outside later and cut off some more stinging nettle leaves to dry.

 

 

 

 

Making Applesauce

Last weekend we got busy making applesauce.  I have 3 apple trees out front and two of them  dropped their apples weeks ago.  The third tree, just outside my mudroom door has my favourite tasting apples.  Over half of the apples have already dropped off so I figured that we had better do something with them fast:  make applesauce!

While 4 of my sons replaced my mudroom front door,  I climbed the ladder and picked about 20 lbs. of apples.  My granddaughters Kalia and Livi arrived just in time to help!  We got out the biggest pot and filled it with water.

cooking apples

Then my daughter-in-law Jeanette and I proceeded to cut the apples up into quarters, about 5 lbs. at a time, carefully removing any bad parts.  I don’t spray my apple trees with anything so they are pure and organic ……….. and often oddly shaped.  The apples boiled until they were soft then I scooped some out into my food grinder.   My granddaughters each took turns churning the food grinder around making the applesauce ooze through the bottom while keeping the remaining skins, pulp, and seeds in the grinder.  That’s the fun part!

grinding cooked apples

After a few spins, we backed up the grinder and scooped out the leftover parts and composted them.  After all those apples were processed, Jeanette climbed the tree and picked another 25 lbs.!  We just kept making apple sauce until we ran out of time.

picking apples

 

Afterwards, I used some of the applesauce and spread it on a  small, greased cookie sheet – I was going to make fruit leather, a.k.a. ‘fruit roll-ups’.  I spread a thin layer of applesauce and placed the cookie sheet in the oven with the oven light on.  There is enough heat produced by an incandescent light bulb to heat up an oven.  Overnight, this applesauce turned into delicious apple ‘fruit roll-ups’.  I first made this before commercial fruit roll-ups were on the market.  One of my children, Robin I think, used to take some to school in his lunch.  It was so popular with his friends, rumour has it that he sold some and made a tidy profit!  lol

Homemade apple ‘roll-ups’

Applesauce was one of the first ‘solid’ foods my babies ate when they were around 6 months old.  I used to fill ice cube trays with it and freeze it.   Then I’d pop out the frozen applesauce cubes into a freezer container, put them in a bag back in the freezer, and just take one out whenever I needed it.   Today, applesauce can be used in many recipes and be substituted for oil called for in any recipe.