Welcome to the 2017 CSA Season!  

Spring is an exciting time in our valley as we watch nature unfold around us.  The trees are putting on leaves, wildflowers are blooming, and we found our first morel mushrooms this week!  We hope you’re ready to embark on your seasonal eating adventure because this week’s box contains some tasty treasures.  If you are new to seasonal eating, some of these vegetables might be unfamiliar to you.  Sorrel, ramps, nettles….what are these things?  Where are the carrots and broccoli?  Eating with the season means taking advantage of what nature has to offer at different times of the year, and often these vegetables contain just the nutrients our bodies need at that time in the season.  While these vegetables may be new to you, they are by no means new vegetables.  In fact, many of our grandparents and great-grandparents likely ate these vegetables and considered them to be a “normal” part of their seasonal diet!  

In this week’s newsletter we are highlighting one of the most nutritious spring vegetables we have, nettles.  Yes, they are the stinging kind, but please don’t let that deter you.  Take a few minutes and read the article Jean Schneider, herbalist and CSA member, wrote for you.  The introduction is featured in the newsletter, but we hope you’ll go to our blog to read Jean’s full article about nettles.  It will help you understand more about how nettles fit well into our spring diet.  On our blog, you’ll also find step-by-step instructions for how to handle nettles so they don’t sting you!  We’ve also provided several recipes using nettles that you may choose to try this week.  We’re glad you’ve chosen to be part of our farm this year and hope you enjoy this week’s seasonal selections.

---Farmer Richard and Chef Andrea 

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What do I do with Nettle?!

By:  Jean Schneider, Herbalist & HVF CSA Member

Nettle is an extremely useful spring plant as an herb and a food that tastes like spinach when cooked. This abundant plant grows where soil fertility is high, accumulating nutrients within the plant.  What does this mean for a CSA member finding this treasure in the box?  This plant gives you a boost of energy.  Here is more motivation to use nettle, it is: 

•     anti-inflammatory
•     anti-histamine (seasonal allergies)
•     high in protein
•     high in carotenoids, chlorophyll, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, potassium, selenium, silicon, vitamins: B, C, D, and K
•     removes uric acid (gout, gravel in the kidneys) 

Nettle is a nutritious spring tonic plant and is a part of eating with the seasons.  It helps our bodies awaken after the long, cold, wet winter by warming and drying up excess fluid.  Nettle tea warms the kidneys and inspires them to work more efficiently and detoxify the blood and body.   Nettle is a blood building, iron rich plant.

Let’s eat some nettle!  First, there are tiny “hairs” all over the plant that produce a sting when they come in contact with your skin.  Lucky for you the farm pre-washes the nettle to remove most of the hairs, so what you have in your box should only have a few hairs left on it. The nettle is bunched together and wrapped in a clear plastic bag.  Use the plastic bag, gloves or tongs to handle the nettle.  You can use kitchen scissors to snip the leaves right from the bunch in the bag or other container (eg a canning jar if you’re making tea).  Once the nettles are cooked, chopped in a food processor, or made into tea with hot water, the hairs have been broken down and no longer sting.  While most people eat nettles cooked, you can eat them raw as well if they are finely chopped (eg made into a pesto).  Some individuals may be more sensitive to this experience than others, so if you have any hesitancy I’d recommend cooking the nettles before you eat them.  I love cooking nettle with a bit of butter in a pan and eating them that way.  Of course you can add them to soups or any other dish you would normally add spinach to.  Just make sure you wilt the nettle well when cooking. 

More About Nettle as a Spring Tonic

Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is considered a weed plant and grows along edges of fields and natural areas and even might pop up in our gardens or yards.   Since it loves high soil fertility, make sure you are harvesting from areas with clean soil (avoid conventional farm fields, industrial waste areas, areas with an unknown history, etc.). Nettle spreads both by underground rhizomes and by seed so you tend to find nettle in patches versus single plants.  At the farm, both wild nettle and a prolific patch of cultivated nettle is harvested for your CSA shares.  The plant is harvested in the spring well before it flowers.  When nettle flowers the constituants in the plant change and we no longer use it.  Young tops of the plant are harvested, usually the top 1/3 and are used as a spring tonic food or dried for later use in long infusions (overnight tea).

When collecting wild nettle, be prepared for all those little stinging hairs that cover the plant.  Wear thick gloves, long sleeves, long pants and closed toe shoes.  Remember, you will likely be going into a patch of nettle where any body part can brush up against a plant.  A pair of garden shears or even kitchen scissors will work fine to cut the tops.  Take them home and process into pesto or start drying the plant right away.  If you use heat to dry it, use very low heat or hang it to air dry in small bunches.  If you want to rinse your bunches in water like the farm does it will remove most of the hairs and will make cooking with it easier.  The nettle doesn’t keep fresh in the refrigerator for very long, so make sure to use it up soon.

During the month fresh nettle is in season, use the plant in regular cooking or as a long infusion tea to help your body adjust to the change of season.  Moving the winter cold and dampness from the body and nutrifying tissues helps us transition into the next season of the year.

The sting in nettle has long been used as a folk remedy on arthritic joints…. yes, that means whipping your arthritic joints with the fresh plant!  It does hurt, I have tried it (once).  After the redness and sting have subsided (for me about an hour) the arthritic joint is less swollen and painful.  These benefits can last for several days.   Or you can use nettle internally and avoid the sting!

A friend of mine previously made nettle beer since her farm had an abundance of the plant.  It was very tasty!  Traditionally the beer was saved and used for gout and rheumatic pains for elders during the winters.

Since nettle is packed with protein and nutrients it’s no wonder the long infusion gives so many people a boost of energy.  Give this plant a try as a spring food and long infusion tea.  If you come to love it, send the farm an e-mail asking for more!

Jean Schneider, Herbalist

Nativa Medica, LLC

Facebook: @nativamedica

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Nettles 101:  How to Handle & Prepare Stinging

Nettles

Nettles are a very nutritious spring green and hold an important place in our spring diets.  They are unique in many ways including the fact that they can “sting” you when they are raw.  Stinging nettles have little “hairs” on them that can cause a sting or skin irritation if you touch them with bare skin before they are cooked.  Vigorously washing nettles in a sink of cold water will help remove some of the sting, but the sting may not be completely gone until they are cooked.  When we pack nettles in CSA boxes, we always give them a vigorous washing and then put them in a clear plastic bag before we put them in your box.  We do this so you don’t have to touch them with your bare hands as you’re unpacking your box. 

Please refer to the handling instructions and tips that follow before you open your bag and use the nettles.  These guidelines will help you find success with your nettles!  If you do get a little sting while handling nettles, it generally subsides within an hour.  If the sting does persist you may find it soothing to apply a little aloe vera or make a paste with baking soda and water and put it on the affected area.

Please note, while most people eat nettles cooked, you can eat them raw as well.  If you choose to eat them raw, we would advise you to do so in a form that requires them to be chopped finely either with a knife or in a food processor, such as nettle pesto.  Some individuals may be sensitive to eating raw nettles, so if you have any hesitancy we’d recommend just blanching or thoroughly cooking the nettles before you eat them. 

Below we have outlined two methods for handling and blanching nettles.  Choose whichever method you prefer and don’t let a little extra handling deter you from eating this wonderful spring vegetable!

Method #1:  Blanch nettles whole with the leaves still attached to the main stem

Step 1:  Wash the nettles

Use the bag the bunch of nettles is in as a barrier between your hand and the nettles.  Hold the bunch of nettles with your hand on the outside of the bag.  Pull the bag back and over your hand to expose the nettles.  Carefully remove the twist tie and put the bunch of nettles in a sink of cold water.  You can use your bag-covered hand to swish the nettles around in the water.  Alternatively, you can use kitchen tongs or gloves to wash the nettles as well.  While we have washed the nettles at the farm, it is good to do so again after removing the twist tie.

Step 2:  Blanch the nettles

Blanching is a cooking process where a food, usually a vegetable, is cooked briefly in boiling water, then removed and immediately placed into iced water or placed under cold running water to stop the cooking process.  In the case of nettles, blanching is important to remove the sting from the nettles so they are easier to work with.

Bring a pot of water to a vigorous boil.  Using a pair of tongs, remove the nettles from the sink of water and transfer them to the boiling water.  Submerge the nettles completely in the water and boil for about 2-3 minutes.  The nettles will wilt and turn bright emerald green.  Remove the nettles from the water and put them into a colander.  Run cold water over them or plunge them into a bowl with iced water. 

Step 3:  Prepare the leaves for use

Now that the nettles are cooked, you can handle them with your bare hands.  Remove them from the cold water and squeeze out all the excess water.  Using a paring knife or kitchen shears, cut the leaves and any small stems off the main stem.  Discard the main stem and the leaves are now ready to use!

Method #2:  Remove the leaves from the main stem before blanching

Step 1:  Wash the nettles

Use the bag the bunch of nettles is in as a barrier between your hand and the bunch of nettles.  Hold the bunch of nettles with your hand on the outside of the bag.  Pull the bag back and over your hand to expose the nettles.  Carefully remove the twist tie and put the bunch of nettles in a sink of cold water.  You can use your bag-covered hand to swish the nettles around in the water.  Alternatively, you can use kitchen tongs or gloves to wash the nettles as well.  While we have washed the nettles at the farm, it is good to do so again after removing the twist tie.

Step 2:  Cut the nettle leaves from the main stem

Use the bag as a glove so you can pick the stems up individually.  Using kitchen shears, cut the leaves and small stems away from the main stem.  Collect the leaves in a bowl and discard the main stem. 

Step 3:  Blanch the nettles

Blanching is a cooking process where a food, usually a vegetable, is cooked briefly in boiling water, then removed and immediately placed into iced water or placed under cold running water to stop the cooking process.  In the case of nettles, blanching is important to remove the sting from the nettles so they are easier to work with.

Bring a pot of water to a vigorous boil.  Using a pair of tongs, dump the nettle leaves into the boiling water and use the tongs to make sure they are fully submerged.  Boil for about 2-3 minutes.  The nettles will wilt and turn bright emerald green.  Remove the nettles from the water using tongs or a slotted spoon and put them into a colander.  Run cold water over them or plunge them into a bowl with iced water. 

Step 4:  Prepare the leaves for use

Now that the nettles are cooked, you can handle them with your bare hands.  Remove them from the cold water and squeeze out all the excess water.  The leaves are now ready to use!