• AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works
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    1 month ago

    There’s a nettle eating championship in Dorset England.

    There was apparently a new record set this year.

    Ms Hodges, who travelled from Wales, said she was surprised and happy to have won again, although her hands were still painful. “My voice is also an octave or two deeper and I’m a bit huskier,” she said. "I did really sting the inside of my mouth and your tongue goes a really funny colour but I was concentrating more on the pain in my hands, so I probably forgot about my mouth. “The dryness is the tricky thing, and chewing them. I think it depends what the weather has been doing - this year they have been a bit hard to chew.”

  • dumples@midwest.social
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    1 month ago

    Nettles are easily removed of their stinging property by drying or cooking. Light streaming even does it

    • Montagge
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      1 month ago

      I blanch it and use it as a spinach substitute

    • GiveMemes@jlai.lu
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      1 month ago

      Nettle tea is also really good for swelling and chronic pain, at least according to my grandfather and his friends that have used it. My grandpa did go to medical school so I tend to trust him, but it was also in the 60s and he calls tattooing and piercings “psychosomatic self flagellation” so take it for what you will.

      • dumples@midwest.social
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        1 month ago

        They are super high in vitamins and minerals. Most wild foraged and grown herbs have more vitamins and minerals per oz than even cultivated super foods like spinach. You can even get most from brewing it in a tea

  • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    The chinese nettle is also the same plant that makes ramie fabric, which is like linen, but more durable. It’s been around for thousands of years, which I think is cool.

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      Clothes were made from nettles in medieval europe. And paper from old clothes.

      Wait, was it nettles or old clothes that were considered critical ressource (for administration) and trading restricted?

  • lunarul@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    They’re also delicious. One of my favorite spring greens back in Europe. Can’t buy them in the US though.

      • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        They’re invasive here too in the UK. Some people are just clever/nuts enough to eat that invasive plant.