Herbs - Nettle

🌿 Stinging Nettle – Nature’s Mineral-Rich Powerhouse

June 2025

Stinging Nettle – A Prickly Plant with a Soft Side
Latin Name: Urtica dioica
Also Known As: Common Nettle, Great Nettle, Nettle Leaf

🌱 Botanical Source

Stinging Nettle is a hardy perennial herb found across Europe, North America, and parts of Asia. It thrives in disturbed soils, ditches, forest edges, and gardens — often considered a weed, but valued for centuries by herbalists.

Despite its sting (caused by tiny hollow hairs on the leaves and stems), once dried or cooked, nettle becomes a nourishing and gentle herb, rich in minerals and plant-based nutrients.

At Foothills Naturals, we offer cut and sifted dried nettle leaf — green, fragrant, and ready for tea, culinary, or DIY herbal use.

📖 History & Traditional Uses

Used in traditional systems from Europe to India, nettle has been embraced as a nutritive tonic and wild spring green.

• In European folk medicine, nettle was gathered in early spring as one of the first "cleansing" herbs after winter.

• In Ayurveda, nettle is used for its grounding, drying, and mineralizing properties.

• In North American traditions, Indigenous peoples used nettle for food, fiber, and herbal preparations.

Referenced in Grieve’s Modern Herbal, Ayurvedic Materia Medica, and ethnobotanical collections across Canada and Scandinavia.

✨ Modern Applications

Today, nettle is widely used as:

• A nutritive tea or infusion

• A base in mineral-rich herbal blends

• A springtime tonic in seasonal cleanses

• A culinary green in soups, pestos, or sautéed dishes

🧪 Nutritional & Functional Snapshot

Nettle leaf is considered a nutritional powerhouse, containing:

• Vitamins: A, C, K, and B-complex

• Minerals: Calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, silica

• Plant compounds: Chlorophyll, flavonoids, lignans

⚠️ Health Canada regulations limit health claims, but nettle’s use as a traditional food herb and spring tonic is well-documented across cultures.

🔧 How to Use Stinging Nettle

Nettle Leaf Tea (Simple Infusion)

• Use 1–2 tsp dried nettle per cup of boiling water

• Steep 10–15 minutes, covered

• Strain and drink hot or chilled

Optional: Blend with lemon balm, peppermint, or raspberry leaf

Nettle Nourishing Infusion (Overnight)

• Add 1/4 cup dried nettle to 1L jar

• Fill with boiling water, cap and steep overnight

• Strain in the morning and refrigerate — sip throughout the day

Spring Green Soup

• Lightly sauté onion, garlic, and potato

• Add vegetable broth and a handful of fresh or rehydrated nettle

• Simmer 10–15 minutes, blend smooth, season to taste

• Option: Add lemon juice and olive oil for brightness

🥣 Other Culinary Ideas

• Add rehydrated nettle to omelets, quiches, or spanakopita

• Mix with wild greens and herbs in savoury tarts or flatbreads

• Use in homemade green salt or seasoning blends

🧴 DIY Topical Use

Nettle Hair Rinse

• Steep 1 tbsp dried nettle in 1 cup boiling water

• Cool, strain, and use as a final rinse after shampooing

• Optionally mix with rosemary or horsetail for added effect

Herbal Foot Soak

• Add 1/4 cup nettle to a basin of hot water

• Soak feet for 15–20 minutes for a relaxing and mineral-rich experience

⚠️ Cautions & Considerations

• Harvesting Warning: Fresh nettle can sting — drying or cooking neutralizes this

• Pregnancy: Generally considered safe in food amounts, but consult your healthcare provider

• Medication interactions: Nettle’s high potassium may interact with diuretics or blood pressure meds — use mindfully

🌿 Fun Facts & Cultural Notes

• Nettle fibers were used to make textiles in medieval Europe — and even WWII uniforms in Germany

• In Norse legend, nettle was associated with protection and renewal

• Stinging nettle’s genus name Urtica comes from Latin uro — “to burn”

📚 Suggested Pairings

• Teas: Combine with oatstraw, red clover, or mint

• Cleanses: Use with dandelion leaf, burdock, or milk thistle

• Culinary: Pairs well with garlic, lemon, and mild cheeses