Wednesday 6 April 2011

Wild Food part 2

After a few warm Spring days the nettles are starting to grow. This is the common stinging nettle, Urtica dioica. I usually cut the new growth back and put it in a bucket of water. After about 2 weeks this turns into a very strong smelling liquid plant food that gets fed to the roses. This year I thought I would grasp the nettle and make soup! The new leaves are said to be be rich in minerals and vitamins.
so here goes, a panful of Spring nettle tops

cooked together with these ingredients a bay leaf and some thyme, then blitzed till smooth



add some milk and voila , nettle soup with cheese, onion and herb scone.

Delicious, and no it doesn't sting, the cooking takes care of that.

7 comments:

Nathalie said...

My grand mother used to make nettle soup too...I was always so suspicious though ;) (but I still ate it)

Aldona said...

Ohh Tessa,I love this soup too,and every spring we make it,after long winter our body needs lots of natural vitamins:-)

RitaJC said...

I ad some potatoes, rice and sorrel while cooking and some sour cream and boiled egg while serving :)

Colours and Textures said...

Sounds like that would work well Rita.

ingermaaike said...

I love nettle soup and we have plenty of it in the garden. Free food :)

SuppliesHandcrafted said...

I know it must be delish! Here, I've had pita made from nettles!

Denise Cerro said...

Tessa, I'm not even sure what nettle soup is, but you make it sound so yummy I want some ! Or maybe it's those herb scones I'm craving ! Thanks for the delicious post !