Eat the leaves of the dead nettle
The leaves of the dead nettle have a mildly spicy taste that is somewhat reminiscent of champagne. They can be used in many ways:
- Salad addition
- Herbal oils
- Sauces
- Herb butter
- tea
also read
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Blanched or lightly steamed leaves go particularly well with fish dishes. Dead nettle leaves harmonize very well with the saffron spice.
How to use the cute flowers
Perhaps you remember it from your childhood. At that time, the mostly white flowers were pulled out of the nettles and sucked out at the lower end. That gave a very pleasantly sweet honey taste on the tongue.
The honey-sweet taste of dead-nettle flowers makes them a very pretty, edible decoration for wild coleslaw or fish dishes.
Due to their sweetness, they are also very suitable for embellishing all kinds of desserts.
Collect dead nettles and use as fresh as possible
The best collection times are March to May and September and October. Only pick those dead nettles that do not grow directly on the roadside or on occupied pastures. You should also not pick nettles for eating along much-visited paths through meadows and forests.
Always pluck only four to six leaves from the top plant whisk. They are the most aromatic and tender.
Dead nettles lose their aroma if they are stored for a long time or if they are dried. Do not collect plants you plan to eat until just before you use them.
Prepare dead nettle for eating
First read and wash the leaves and flowers very briefly. Then it is best to dry them in a salad spinner.
The leaves are chopped up for salads and sauces. The flowers are placed whole on the food.
Tea can be brewed from both fresh and dried herbs.
Tips & Tricks
The dead nettle is used in naturopathy for inflammatory diseases. It contains a number of minerals as well as essential oils, flavonoids, mucilage and tannins. Just like the nettle, the dead nettle has a diuretic effect.
