Bring to the boil and cram in the nettles, pushing them down with a wooden spoon to immerse them. Taste, season and add the lemon juice. In fact, the occasional nettle sting, unpleasant as it can be, is actually a good tonic for the nervous, circulatory and lymphatic systems. Blitzed together in less than five minutes, this cheat’s pesto uses cashews instead of pine nuts as a cheaper, easier-to-get-hold-of substitute. Once nettle has cooled (about 5 minutes), remove nettle by the handful and squeeze out water. Nice photos too. Posted by: michael Season to taste with salt. Ryan Hardy Epicurious March 2007 The Little Nell. 3 stars As the weather warms, stinging nettle forms tiny flowers and seeds, and some people report GI distress from eating stinging nettle at this stage. Copyright Thyme Herbal - All Rights Reserved, Lentil and Rice Salad with Feta and Parsley, Spanakopita with Fresh Herbs and Wild Greens, Cream of Nettle Soup with Toasted Sunflower Seeds. Watching the new year’s sun rise from our apartment on Via dei Marsano in Genova was a beautiful experience. Nettles are used intentionally for this purpose in a treatment called uritication. Cook … Seems like a great idea. Serve dollops of pesto on cucumber or tomato slices. But it’s delicious on any sandwich. I chose to share this recipe because it takes full advantage of the abundance of wild foods available in the spring months – nettle, wood sorrel, dandelion greens and violet leaves, just to name a few! Go to reviews. 2 cloves garlic (or to taste) olive oil. Put them in your food processor and process until well broken down, scraping the herbs off the sides of the food processor bowl as needed. This last option allows us to make delicious raw nettle pesto! You can keep this in the fridge for a couple of weeks and it also freezes well. I like it at this stage to make raw nettle pesto, since its sting is very mild. Let sunflower seeds cool slightly before combining in the food processor with  the nettle leaves, garlic, a twist of freshly ground black pepper and 1/4 cup olive oil. 5 stars. 37 Broughton Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3JU. Popular ways to eat nettles include nettle soup, nettle tea and steamed nettles ; in fact you could swap the spinach in any recipe with wild foraged nettles. 2 cups stinging nettles, blanched and chopped (figure 6 cups raw) 1/2 cup Parmesan 1/2 cup pine nuts, roasted 4-5 large garlic cloves, peeled 1/2 cup olive oil ... but yet I have never seen a nettle pesto before. The young leaves are edible. Toast sunflower seeds in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown and aromatic, about 4 – 6 minutes. It can also make for a nutritious tea. Stinging nettle pesto is a green sauce/condiment/paste made with garlic, salt, Parmesan, walnuts, oil and blanched stinging nettle. Brittany Wood Nickerson is a practicing herbalist, health educator and cook. Pesto history. Note: 1 cup of blanched nettle leaves has 43% of our daily recommended calcium, 555% of recommend Vitamin K, and is also high in manganese, magnesium, and contains 2.4 grams of protein. reviews (5) 100%. Turn off heat on boiling water, but reserve the water for boiling your pasta, if using the pesto as a pasta sauce. Always make sure that you are harvesting your weeds from pollutant and spray free areas such as roadways and sidewalks. Wearing gloves, add nettles to boiling water; cook until nettles are … With the motor running slowly, add almost all the oil. As the season progresses, you can enjoy this with lamb’s quarters, galinsoga and many other so-called weeds. 2 large handfuls or about 50g wild nettle leaves, freshly picked, The email address is not valid, please try again, 12,000+ products - Shipping worldwide since 1963, 2 large handfuls or about 50g fresh coriander, 4 large handfuls or about 100g fresh basil, 1/4 cup or about 40g shelled hemp seeds OR, recipe measurement conversion tables here. Keep in mind, mechanically crushing / mashing nettle, as when making pesto, neutralizes the sting, as does cooking it. This last option allows us to make delicious raw nettle pesto! Once you have … Find a pan large enough to take the nettles and half-fill it with water. Boiled briefly, nettles turn into a rich green vegetable much like spinach. Put the prepared nettles or rocket and raw wild garlic in a food processor, along with the Parmesan, lemon zest and nuts. Sounds a lot like basil pesto, doesn’t it? 1/3 cup sunflower seeds 2 packed cups fresh nettle leave 2 cloves garlic (or to taste) olive oil salt and freshly ground pepper. But long cooking times destroy some of nettles beneficial phytonutrients, so eating raw nettles like in this raw vegan nettle pesto is a bonus. Plus, they are free and widely available, so the little care required in handling them is totally worth it. This moment (and for the next few weeks) features newly sprouted nettle shoots. All bulk wholesale deliveries are at cost and excluded from free delivery. Nettle Pesto Recipe 4 cups fresh nettle tops – roughly chopped 2/3 – 1 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 cup nuts of your choice – almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, macadamias, pecans, cashews, etc. Raw wild garlic can be pretty overpowering, but earthy nettle is the ideal partner to tone it down, making a perfectly punchy, super-healthy pesto! 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds 1/2 cup raw almonds 1/4 cup nutritional yeast 4 cloves garlic The formic acid is neutralized when the cell wall of the plant is broken through cooking, freezing, drying or thoroughly pureeing. Strain and add to a food processor or high … Blend until smooth, adding more olive oil to get desired consistency. Use the freshest, greenest, youngest nettle leaves you can find. There's a woman in Colorado who runs a raw food center and makes here own local, raw green powder using nettle, dandilion, masha, and something else local to her area. “ Stinging nettle has a flavor similar to spinach when cooked and is rich in vitamins A, C, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium. This recipe freezes great. Nettle-Walnut Pesto Crostini . Wild Garlic & Nettle Pesto recipe. 3.5/4. While harmless, formic acid stings the skin on contact. Wilt the nettle tops in a saucepan with 1tbsp water. 1/3 cup sunflower seeds. Raw Nettle or Spinach Pesto Recipe- Vegan, Paleo, and Cheap Ingredients: 4 cups loosely packed raw nettle leaves (and tender tips), lambsquarters leaves, chickweed, or spinach, loosely packed 2 cloves garlic 1/2 cup oil (olive is best, but any is fine) 1/3 cup … Make a local blend. Garble (remove the stem) fresh nettle leaves. 4 stars 2 packed cups fresh nettle leave. Finally, add the olive oil and process very briefly, until just incorporated. On: 25/06/2017, DetoxLunch BoxMain CoursesNibbles and SnacksRecipes for kidsSide dishesStarters. You can drink the nutrient-rich cooking water like tea, just leave out the salt. Add all the other ingredients (except the olive oil and cucumber), and process again. I agree with the food processor here, perhaps the one exception to the pesto rule! Need help converting measurements? As I mention in that post, nettles have tiny hairs on them that contain formic acid. She combines knowledge of nutrition and a passion for using food as medicine with her training in Western, Ayurvedic and Chinese herbal medicine. https://www.realfoods.co.uk/recipe/raw-vegan-wild-nettle-pesto-recipe I made the pesto on Sunday and my kids, who are in the habit of turn their noses up at anything green on their pasta (sigh) were enamored with the idea of a raw nettle recipe, asking the same question I did at a potluck last spring when I tried a dip made with raw nettles for the first time, “Will it sting my tongue?” It doesn’t, incredibly. 1 star Made with walnuts and … This pesto is delicious served on cucumber or tomato slices for canapés, on toast topped with roasted vegetables, or stirred through grain pasta or courgetti (spaghetti substitute made by processing raw courgettes using a spiraliser or a julienne peeler). If you are not aware of the health benefits of stinging nettles, you can read about them in the headnote of my last post, Cream of Nettle Soup with Toasted Sunflower Seeds. Lovely stuff. https://www.wolfcollege.com/stinging-nettle-harvesting-processing-and-recipes That’s because it is … The taste of this raw stinging nettle soup recipe is delicious and fresh – almost like pesto … I chopped and salted the pure nettle ferment; 8 ounces of leaves fit perfectly in a half-pint jar. The Nettle Neck sandwich at New York City eatery Untamed Sandwiches features this pesto (pictured above), along with red wine-braised lamb neck, gruyere cheese, pickled spring onions, and charred onion tops. The following edibles make the “short list” for possible additions to my wild weed pesto. Nettles can be used in a variety of recipes, such as pesto. stinging nettle leaves Quantity: ~8 cups raw leaves lose packed becomes 2.5 cups loosely packed after blanching and tossed dry 1 cup fresh-grated parmesan cheese 1 cup pine nuts, toasted … Gently wipe or wash to remove grass or dirt. Stinging nettle, scientifically called Urtica dioica of the Urticaceae family, is a nourishing healing ally that is used for food and medicine. salt and freshly ground pepper. make it again. Ingredients. Gently boil the nettle leaves for 5 minutes. Company Registration No: SC103912, VAT Registration No: 446571630. Makes approximately 3 cups Edible Weeds for Making Pesto. © 2020 Real Foods. Despite their unpleasant sting, the humble wild nettles are actually tasty and very nutritious: they are high in Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorous, Zinc, Chromium, B vitamins and trace minerals including Selenium and Manganese ! Our UK deliveries will normally take between 3 and 6 working days to arrive. Needs to be dried below 116 degree F to be marketed to raw … Toss pesto with pasta, spread on seared fish or chicken, or use as a dip for raw vegetables. PS: The quality and freshness of your nettles really shine through in this recipe. I wanted to see if I could make a fermented nettle pesto. Transfer the pesto to a … Just handle the leaves carefully while washing and drying them. Thoroughly chopping the nettles in the food processor stops them from stinging. For this reason, it is a good idea to handle fresh nettles with gloves, unless you want to be stung…the sting, is harmless, just a bit uncomfortable. Nettle season has a tight grip on me this year – I can’t seem to get enough of these dark, rich greens! Remove nettle from boiling water and place in bowl of ice water to retain its bright, green color. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Her treatment and teaching approach emphasize personal empowerment, preventative home healthcare and whole body wellness. WALNUT NETTLE PESTO. I promise no one will know the difference. Estimated nutrition for nettle pesto (w/o pasta) based on making 8 servings of pesto. These quantities make up quite a big batch, please feel free to halve the recipe if needed. Some are small like the transition out…. Toast sunflower seeds in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown and aromatic, about 4 – 6 minutes. Prep your nettles and herbs by washing and delicately dry them using a clean tea towel. View our recipe measurement conversion tables here. Nettle and Ramps Pesto, vegan This classic favourite is made with wild spring powerhouse vegetables - stinging nettle and garlicky ramps or ramsons. 2 stars Most days, I feel like there is so much on my plate that when something…, This Lentil and Rice Salad with Feta and Parsley is one of my all-time favorite…, We are making transitions constantly in our lives. Sell over 10,000 items online and instore, We are Scotland's longest serving retailer of Organic, Vegan, Vegetarian, Fairtrade and Special Diet foods. In its peak season, stinging nettle contains up to 25% protein, dry weight, which is high for a leafy green vegetable.