While many dismiss is as noxious and invasive, its benefits by far outweigh the downsides, at least in my opinion. I like to use Stinging Nettle as a food, since it is a good source of Vitamin K, Calcium, Manganese and Vitamin A. While it may be easier to enjoy steamed or stir-fried, it can also be eaten raw, which I do when I'm out in the wild. My favorite way to enjoy it, though, is tea. Today, I thought I'd try a new way of preparing it.
With the little, reusable cups that you can get for this type of coffee maker, I thought this could be a good idea. For maximum health benefits nettle leaves should be steeped for longer than this coffee machine can do, but I was still curious and wanted to try.
I plan on having some patches of my own growing eventually, but for now I have a dried supply awaiting use. I know a few really good places to find Stinging Nettle in the wild, so I always like to harvest a bunch when I get the chance. It dries and stores very well, so it makes it easy on my to keep a large amount on hand to use in teas, soups, stews, and other things.
Packed the little reusable cup full with the dried leaves. Much like when I make a big batch, I'll reuse this same portion a few times, and then eventually discard the leaves into the compost pile. I really enjoy getting the most out of everything that I use!
Sure enough, the little cup of nettle loaded just fine and soon I would know if my experiment was successful. While I've made my own tea bags in the past, trying it this way with the machine was a first.
The first cup of tea, as expected, was not quite as rich as it could have been. The second cup was much better. In both cases the flavor was excellent and I enjoyed them quite thoroughly. At the point of this writing, a few hours later, I am about to enjoy another cup from the same leaves.
This photo is of some Stinging Nettle growing in a ditch. While few people seem to care about this plant, it can be readily available for harvest in many places. Because it is so useful for so many things, some people are even growing it now as a cash crop. Another fun thing to do with this plant is to make cordage from it.
If you are not familiar with this plant, now may be a good time to get familiar with it. Any plant that can produce tea, food, rope, and health benefits is certainly welcome on our homestead!
@papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-it-worked
@orelmely