Nettle tea has been used for millennia to remedy respiratory and skin conditions, in addition to ease joint pains and arthritis. Even if you are in tip-top physical health, a cupful of nettle tea can control your hormones, soothing the mind, and also give a boost of precious nutritional vitamins. What makes this great drink even better? You can simply produce it from home!
Naturally, step one in producing your own pot of nettle tea is being capable of recognize a nettle plant. If you are unsure know what a nettle plant looks like, an easy search on the internet offers you loads of pictures. When dealing with Mother Nature, make sure you understand precisely what you might be dealing with. A number of plants look similar but one may be great for you while the other might be incredibly poisonous. When in doubt, ask someone with experience before ingesting anything.
Read more about stinging nettle tea
When you know what you are trying to find, any woods, thickets or perhaps the side of the road are ideal places to uncover the nettle plant. It grows just like a weed, because, well, it truly is one! The most important rule of nettle plant picking is to always put on gloves and a shirt with long sleeves and also to use scissors, reducing your touching the leaves whenever possible. Nettle leaves are covered with almost undetectable hair-like stingers that leave an awful rash on the skin. Also, you’ll want to gather your nettle leaves from areas not sprayed with weed killer or are exposed to other chemicals (for example car exhaust right next to a busy road).
When choosing your nettle leaves pick newer plants (around spring time) and trim off the bright green tips to collect (the leaves get bitterer with age). The nettle leaves must be washed to remove all dirt and insects after which they could either be dried for future pots of tea or used right away fresh. To dry the nettle leaves, layer them on a paper towel and allow them to air dry. They may then be stored in an airtight container for future use.
There are various recipes available on-line as to how to make an excellent pot of nettle tea; even so, these are subjective as people might want to use more or less nettle leaves based on how bitter they like the tea. A common recipe is to take a tablespoon of dried nettles and to brew it in boiling water for about ten minutes. The leaves must be brewed for the full ten minutes in order to deactivate the stingers. Otherwise, you won’t die, but you may get a mild stomach ache or ‘tingling’ sensation when drinking the tea (that you get anyway, in case you have a sensitive system but this should go away as the body gathers a tolerance to the tea). The leaves may then be drained and the tea safely taken.
stinging nettle tea
If you would like for more of a power punch from the nettle leaves, you can create a nettle infusion, that’s basically a nettle tea which has steeped longer. A recommended recipe is to take one ounce of nettle leaves and one quart of boiling water and then to let them soak for, at least, several hours, or overnight in the fridge. Be sure to still refrigerate the infusion in order that it doesn’t spoil (if it does, it makes a fantastic fertilizer for your garden). The infusion may be reheated to have as an extra strong tea or poured over ice or added to juice for a cool, tasty refreshment.
If you want the health rewards of a pot of nettle tea, but don’t like the flavour, adding lemon, honey or just sugar is likely to make your cup of tea that much better for you. Additionally, other herbs and plant leaves can be blended along with the nettle leaves to make your personal custom super tea! A popular addition for all those struggling with indigestion is rosemary, which helps with the release of bile to help process fats. Red raspberry leaves joined with nettle leaves can create a fantastic tonic for an pregnant woman, as both assist with alleviate excessive bleeding after childbirth. Check out some marvelous combos for yourself!
Further reading on nettle tea
