Nettle

Ortie

What it is

The sting is a hollow silica needle that snaps at a touch and injects what it holds; heat, or a hard enough crushing, collapses it, which is why blanched nettle is harmless. The plant was a fibre crop too: Germany wove nettle cloth for uniforms during the First World War, when the cotton blockade bit.

In the kitchen

Take only the top four leaves, and take them before the plant flowers — afterwards the leaves build gritty calcium crystals. Thirty seconds in boiling water disarms the sting completely, and the blanching water is a good stock; do not throw it away.

Goes with

Butter Potato Onion Cream Goat cheese Garlic Walnut Barley

Also used with

Ground elder

In season alongside

Black morel Lamb neck Dandelion greens Lamb shoulder Broad bean Fiddlehead fern

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