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Stinging Nettles

June 15, 1999

I remember as a child, one night I was chasing lightning bugs and discovered Stinging Nettles. At the time I never would have dreamed that Stinging Nettles were such an important part of history and of good health. Stinging Nettles are aptly named for the tiny little stinging hairs all over the stems. When you rub against the seemingly innocent plants it feels like biting ants.
Because of their stinging hairs they are easy to identify, thus easy to find in the wild. There are some varieties that can cause stinging for weeks. The sting of Stinging Nettles has been and is still used to put on areas of the body where circulation is needed. That use is called urtication.
Stinging Nettle is a wonderfully nutritional plant. It is rich in chlorophyll, calcium, silicon, chromium, magnesium, zinc, and potassium. It contains vitamins A, C, D, and E, along with the minerals sodium, copper, and iron. It is very high in protein. Traditionally it has been used as a spring tonic. After a long winter, when the body needed a good boost, it was cooked as greens and eaten. It doesn’t sting after it is steamed or cooked. Although I must tell you, our hippie neighbors tried a big meal of Nettles cooked as greens. They said they were delicious. Two hours later they were thoroughly sick to their stomachs. Too much of a good thing can get quite hard to digest. But then they were always overdosing anyhow. The moral to their story is, eat your nettles in moderation. A small amount of the herb added to a pot of beans can greatly increase your nutritional intake, which could make a big difference in good health if you were in a situation where your vitamin and mineral intake was otherwise limited.
Without proper vitamins and minerals the bodily functions soon begin to break down, causing disease or weakness. For instance, sometimes low chromium levels in the body can cause high blood sugar levels. Often high blood pressure can be corrected with potassium. Add a small amount of Nettle to your diet in the way of tea, or added to a pot of soup, and these problems could be eliminated. If you know anyone who has lost all their get-up-and-go, tell them to get up and go get some Nettles for the high iron and chlorophyll content. Most chlorophyll sold in health-food stores is made from the rich Stinging Nettle plant. For ladies expecting babies, Nettles are a helpful source of iron and calcium. Together with Red Raspberry and Alfalfa, Stinging Nettle is a good prenatal herbal.
Stinging Nettle is a diuretic, which means it helps the body flush out waste and toxins by increasing the urine flow. Thus it is used in many kidney and bladder herbals.
But my favorite use of Nettles is for the hair. You can read about that in any herb book.
Collecting Stinging Nettles in the wild can be a pain! Our daughter Shoshonna sells this herb. For more information and a price list on herbs, visit www.bulkherbstore.com or write to The Bulk Herb Store, 1010 Pearl Road, Pleasantville, TN 37033. The Bulk Herb Store is in no way connected to this ministry, DO NOT mix orders.

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