Following an afternoon of foraging, an evening of cooking, and a yummy pasta dinner, I went to bed with the feeling that a hot iron was lying on top of my fingers. I wondered if I would be able to go to sleep with my hands so swollen and angry. I finally did; in the morning the pain level was at a slow burn, and it soon dissipated.
It was all from the nettles — all the fun and adventure, the delicious dinner and the extended pain. And it was worth it!
My Forest Family had made Nettle Pasta several times in the past, but I hadn’t been around to experience any of the project, and when I’d seen the pictures I’d been a little jealous. So this time, I was glad to participate. We had to go a distance to find out if the nettles were even at the best stage for using — up the highway for a while, then down a one-lane winding road for a while, then out of the car and on foot through a drizzle. Meadowlarks and red-winged blackbirds were calling under the big and dripping sky as we continued along a gravel road that didn’t have enough gravel — till finally we came to the Shasta River. And there were the nettles in all their robust glory. And they weren’t past their prime at all; they looked perfect.
I had brought some gardening gloves along on my trip up, not knowing what task they might come in handy for, and I happily showed Pippin that she didn’t need to hunt for an extra pair for me. I set to work filling a couple of grocery bags with bunches of nettles cut with scissors or just pulled out of the top inch of soil. It wasn’t until we were back home that I felt the full effect of the stinging and burning; my gloves only protected me on my palms and not on the backs of my hands, where the glove was cloth. Note to self: pick nettles only with rubber or leather gloves.
Before our outing I had discussed the message of this 300-yr-old rhyme with the children:
Tender-handed stroke a nettle,
And it stings you, for your pains:
Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains.
Scout flatly declared it false, and I in any case hadn’t planned to test the truth of the ditty. On Quora someone writes,
It means to act firmly, with resolve. The reference to the nettle relates to the fact that if you make only superficial contact with a nettle plant it will sting you. However if you grasp it firmly with an upward motion you avoid the stinging effect. (The stinging hairs grow in a slightly upward-facing direction. Grasping with a firm upward stroke tends to flatten the hairs against the stem or leaf so their ends can’t penetrate the skin and deliver their sting.) I’ve seen this done with no apparent ill effects and heard of gardeners who can clear a nettle patch bare-handed.
The problem I see with the kind of nettles we were dealing with, is that while you are grasping some of the nettles boldly like a man or woman of mettle, other leaves are coming in from the side against your tender hands and stinging you. That’s essentially what they did through my gloves; I wasn’t grabbing with the tops of my hands, after all.
A nettle-eating contest is held in Dorset every year, where super-mettled people compete over such (raw) foods as this European nettle (Urtica dioica) at left, shown in its seed stage. In the article about the contest they explain:
Nettle leaves sting because they are covered in tiny hollow filaments, the silica tips of which break off at the lightest touch to expose sharp points that deliver an instant shot of formic acid into the skin surface, followed by histamine, acetylcholine and serotonin.
Ouch! We took our greens home and washed them (wearing rubber gloves).
After blanching to neutralize the sting, we removed the leaves and incorporated them into an eggy pasta dough.
The noodles were delicious.
We had a pint of blanched leaves left over, which Pippin may make into soup. There were bagfuls of unused raw nettles as well, which I brought home, blanched and froze, and would like to put into soup myself. Maybe this version from the Forager Chef site: Classic Nettle Soup. Have any of you, my readers, cooked with nettles? Have you participated in a nettle-eating contest? Do you have any nettle-stinging stories to tell? I’d love to know!
Gladsome Lights 
That green pasta is beautiful–vibrant and a lovely contrast to the red sauce. I have never foraged nettles, but drink lots of nettle tea during allergy season. It’s supposed to help. I was told that Jewelweed (also known as Touch-Me-Not) leaves are a good antidote for the sting. I’ve only tried this once, and the relief was temporary, but there!
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A couple of years ago when I was writing about an April hike taken with family, I mentioned the nettles along the path: “I pointed out to anyone who would listen, how conveniently the plantain herb was growing near the nettles: if you were to get a nettle sting, you might chew up a few plantain leaves into a poultice to put on the burning flesh to soothe it. Or so I’ve been told many times.”
But I’ve never heard of jewelweed – it evidently doesn’t grow around here. So I’m glad we have plantain 🙂
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The noodles look good! Very appetizing.
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I cannot take antihistamines, including nettle in tea or any other herbal formula, as they make me feel depressed. It’s awful.
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I don’t want to Like this! I didn’t know nettles were an antihistamine, but this limitation on your treatment options sounds difficult. I think I used to drink nettle tea for general urinary tract health, but not sure about that. It was a long time ago.
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You don’t have to “like” it! 😊
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What did the nettle pasta taste like? When I lived in England, there were nettles frequently about. But mostly they remind me of one of my favorite fairy tales in the Brothers Grimm. I think it’s called the Twelve Swans or the Seven Swans, and elements of that story are also in The King of Ireland‘s Son. When my children were little we used the story for learning the letters S (swan) and N (nettles).
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My first response was to say warm, earthy, toasty, but I didn’t know if those are the right descriptors—so I read online what AI gathered: “Nettle pasta has a unique flavor profile that combines the earthy and slightly bitter taste of stinging nettles with the subtle sweetness of pasta. The nettles add a fresh, herbal note that complements the neutral flavor of the pasta dough.”
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I need to find the swan story with the nettles element!
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You guys are amazing and far more adventurous than I! I think it would be delicious (I love nettle soup) but have no desire to do all the work that goes into it. That’s quite a production and you all deserve kudos!
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MG, we love getting free food 😊
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Free food? That made me laugh! My time is worth as much to me as money — maybe more — and I’d far rather pick up my greens from a market or straight from a farmer than go through that process!
There are so many different nettle species; several grow here in Texas. In fact, you might enjoy this post from one of our most avid (and most reliable) foragers. His photo of the ravioli and yours of the pasta certainly are appealing!
The nettle that I’m most familiar with is of a different genus: Cnidoscolus texanus, or bull nettle. It’s covered all over with the same stinging hairs, and unlike the one you featured here, its leaves and such are inedible. Seeds and roots can be utilized, but the same sort of complicated processes are necessary to make them safe. I was introduced to that one when I accidentally sat on one while photographing flowers alongside the road. It was worse than fire ant bites by far, but it took only a couple of hours for the pain to fade. That plant truly was “a pain in the rear end”!
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Ouch!
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My only experience with nettles occurred when my oldest son was about 5 and fell off his bike and into a ditch full of stinging nettles. Poor little man was in such distress and I didn’t have anything to relieve the pain. We lived quite a way out of town so no pharmacy nearby. Since then I have not had any desire to get anywhere near nettles. Having said that, your green noodles do look very interesting.
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I know absolutely zip about nettles, the picking thereof, nor the eating! But I enjoyed the rhyme and your explanation of it. Noodles looked delicious and I understand nettles have a lot of nutritional and medicinal value.
While I was out on errands with my mom, she got a text from my aunt who was awaiting the birth of her first grandson. She reported “mẹ tròn, con vuông” which translates to “mom round, child square”. Mom said it meant all was well with mother and child. But we puzzled and puzzled over the idiom! I’ve read a few explanations, but none really satisfy 🙂
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