Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe (2024)

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Do you have foraged stinging nettle that you’ve dried or recently collected? Make this stinging nettle-ade! It’s a refreshing sugar free lemonade recipe that’s easy to make and sugar free. It’s the perfect foraged drink recipe.

Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe (1)

Wildcrafting Weeds

If you want to learn more about the edible and medicinal weeds that surround us and how to use them, check out my eBook: Wildcrafting Weeds: 20 Easy to Forage Edible and Medicinal Plants (that might be growing in your backyard)!

Gather & Root Online Foraging Course

My online foraging course is a great way to learn about wild edible and medicinal plants! Learn more about the gather + root online foraging course here.

Stinging Nettle Benefits

Many people know about stinging nettle, but it is much more well-known for its painful sting than its edible and medicinal qualities.

If prepared the right way, stinging nettles are delicious and nutritious! So many edible wild “weeds” are brushed off as being a nuisance, when they are actually quite tasty, and often have medicinal value as well.

Stinging nettle is a very nutritious superfood. It has a large amount of many vitamins and minerals, but is particularly high in vitamins A and C, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium.

Related: 40+ Stinging Nettle Recipes (without the sting!)

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Nettle is also a potent medicinal plant. It is commonly used for kidney and bladder problems, including urinary tract infections.

Stinging nettle is known as an all around tonic for women’s reproductive system, and is often used when trying to conceive, as well as throughout pregnancy (check with your doctor or midwife before using it during pregnancy).

Because of its high concentration of minerals, nettle is also commonly used for bone ailments such as arthritis and osteoporosis.

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Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe

The book by Mia Wasilevich titled Ugly Little Greens tells us how to cook these overlooked plants in delightful ways! That is where I got this recipe for Nettle-Ade that I’m going to share with you today.

If you don’t have any dried nettles on hand for this recipe, you can always purchase them from Mountain Rose Herbs, my favorite place to buy high quality, organic herbs.

First, steep the dried nettles. Place the nettles in a teapot or a nonreactive pot and pour the boiling water over them. Let the nettles steep for 15 minutes, then strain them from the water.

Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe (4)

Add ice to a tall glass and muddle the honey with the preserved lemon. Pour in ½ cup (120 ml) of the strong nettle tea and finish with the sparkling water.

Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe (5)

Photo credit: Mia Wasilevich

This Nettle-Ade recipe is surprisingly delicious!

Slightly sweet from the honey, and a pleasant tartness from the lemon make it really wonderful. It is super refreshing on a hot day!

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It’s nice to know how healthy it is, too.

Nettle infusion is something that we could all use a little more of, and this is the perfect way to make it more enticing.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be making this nettle-ade all summer long with my stash of foraged dried stinging nettle!

Ugly Little Greens Book

I really love the book Ugly Little Greens by Mia Wasilevich!

She takes underutilized wild plants like dandelions, mustards, nettles, plantain, cattail, thistles, lambs quarters, mallow, watercress, and elderberries and turns them into gourmet recipes such as:

  • Plantain and Purslane Poke
  • Cattail Pollen Madeleines
  • Nettles Benedict
  • Salted Dandelion and Plantain Two Ways
  • Lambsquarters Marbled Bread
  • Elderflower Sangria with Summer Fruit

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Both this wonderful book and this amazing Stinging Nettle-Ade recipe are highly recommended!

It’s always so much fun to actually make awesome recipes from foraged and wildcrafted ingredients. Mia’s book will help you with some of the best recipes I’ve seen for these wild edible weeds!

What is your favorite way to prepare stinging nettles?

Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe (8)

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5 from 2 votes

Nettle-Ade

Make this refreshing Nettle-Ade with foraged stinging nettles!

Course Drinks

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Steeping Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Calories 16kcal

Author Colleen @ Grow Forage Cook Ferment

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

  • Dried nettle leaves and stems as needed (see note)
  • Boiling water as needed (see note)
  • Ice as needed
  • 1 tbsp honey per serving
  • preserved lemon or a ½-inch chunk per serving
  • 1 cup sparkling water per serving

Instructions

  • To steep the dried nettles, place the nettles in a teapot or a nonreactive pot and pour the boiling water over them. Let the nettles steep for 15 minutes, then strain them from the water.

  • Add ice to a tall glass and muddle the honey with the preserved lemon. Pour in ½ cup (120 ml) of the strong nettle tea and finish with the sparkling water.

Notes

This recipe is from the bookUgly Little Greensby Mia Wasilevich, Page Street Publishing Co. 2017

A general rule of thumb is to use 1 tablespoon (1 g) dried nettles per 1 cup (240 ml) water. But I like to make this strong so I can enjoy it with ice and sparkling water, so I use 2 tablespoons (2 g) dried nettles per 1 cup (240 ml) water. For example, to make 4 servings, use 8 tablespoons (6 g) nettles and 4 cups (960 ml) water. It’s OK to eyeball this, as dried nettles weigh practically nothing and you won’t get a significant measurement by weight.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 16kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Sodium: 8mg | Potassium: 8mg | Calcium: 10mg

Stinging Nettle-Ade Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you prepare stinging nettle for medicinal purposes? ›

IF USING FRESH NETTLES: Strip the nettle leaves from the fibrous stem using leather garden gloves. Wash the leaves thoroughly (it may require several washings). Steam until the nettles are tender yet still vibrantly green. Let the nettles cool with the lid off.

What are the ingredients in stinging nettles? ›

Various bioactive chemical constituents have been isolated from stinging nettle to date, such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, amino acid, carotenoids, and fatty acids.

How do you use stinging nettle for enlarged prostate? ›

The root and above ground parts are used as medicine. Stinging nettle root is taken by mouth for urination problems related to an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia [BPH]).

How do you use stinging nettle for joint pain? ›

While studies have been small, they suggest that some people find relief from joint pain by applying nettle leaf topically to the painful area. Other studies show that taking an oral extract of stinging nettle, along with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), helps people reduce their NSAID dose.

What is the best way to prepare nettle? ›

Nettles need to be thoroughly cleaned and de-stung before eating. To do this, the easiest method is blanching them in boiling water and rinsing them afterward, squeezing out the water before sautéing them or adding them into soups or stews.

How do you make stinging nettle tincture? ›

Put the nettle leaf and alcohol in pint jar, stir and cover with the lid. Label the jar with contents. Place the jar in a cool, dark place, and shake it daily. After 2-3 weeks, strain into bowl and use wooden spoon to press down on herbs left in strainer to get all the goodness.

What are the negative side effects of nettle? ›

Nettle leaves contain many healthy antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, which means that there may be potential benefits of nettle tea. However, a negative side effect of nettle tea is that a person may develop hives.

What does nettle do for a woman? ›

Natural herbs for women like Nettle leaf or stinging nettle can optimize and balance hormones for optimal health, giving you great skin and hair as well. Stinging Nettle or Nettle leaf is a common plant, its leaves can cause itching and a temporary discomfort hence earning it a lot of bad press.

Who should not drink nettle tea? ›

Avoid if you're pregnant or breastfeeding because there isn't enough information on its safety. Use with caution if you're elderly because of the potential of causing low blood pressure. And use stinging nettle with caution if you have diabetes because of the potential that it may lower or raise blood sugar levels.

How much stinging nettle should I take for prostate? ›

For allergic rhinitis, the recommended dosage is 600 mg of dried nettle leaf per day taken in three separate doses. In benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a daily dose of 360 mg of aqueous root extract taken as 3 divided doses is suggested for up to 6 months.

What part of stinging nettle is good for prostate? ›

Nettle root is recommended for complaints associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). We therefore conducted a comprehensive review of the literature to summarise the pharmacological and clinical effects of this plant material.

How do you make nettle lotion? ›

Fill a glass canning jar 1/4 to 1/2 of the way with crumbled up dried purple dead nettle. (You can also mix in other dried herbs such as calendula, yarrow, etc – see the salve recipes below for ideas.) Fill the jar almost to the top with your chosen oil – olive or sunflower oil can be good for most skin types.

What herb cream is good for arthritis? ›

Creams, gels and other topical products

Arnica and comfrey gels are both useful for relieving arthritis pain. Creams made with the chili pepper extract, capsaicin, can also help with pain, but they can cause side effects like a burning sensation and skin irritation.

What is the best cream for nettles? ›

A dose of antihistamine (such as Piriton) will relieve the itching. Topical creams like calamine lotion or hydrocortisone can also be applied to reduce redness and itching (but be careful to gently dab the cream instead of rubbing).

How do you make herbal balm for arthritis? ›

- 1 cup dried arnica flowers - 3 cups extra-virgin olive base oil - 2,000 IU vitamin E oil - 3-4 tablespoons beeswax (use the larger amount if you want a firmer salve) Equipment Needed: 2-quart saucepan or double boiler, stirring utensil, candy or yogurt thermometer, strainer, fine filter, funnel, glass or plastic ...

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