Stinging Nettle — The Most Nutritious Plant On Earth?

Hello everyone, I'm Adam Haron from Learn Your Land and in this video I'm going to talk about one of my favorite wild

plant

s, which is this one here,

nettle

diode, this is one of my favorite wild

plant

s, it was one of the first ones I met at the beginning of my forging days and every time I discovered this plant in the wild, I brought some home and transplanted it to a small wild garden I was tending outside my house, it was really cool Watch this plant mature season after season year after year and it really becomes a beautiful colony and even to this day, whenever I discover

nettle

in the wild, there is never a moment that I see it that I am not really excited, so Needless to say.

It still holds a very special place in my heart and in this video what we're going to do is talk about everything related to nettle, including what causes it to sting and what we can do to mitigate some of that itch. talk about identification, of course, nutritional benefits, medicinal benefits, including brand new research, so I definitely want to pay attention to that, we're going to talk about how to properly process this plant for consumption and much more, so stay tuned without further ado presentations. As for me, let's delve into the wonderful wild world of sharp metal, so let's address the sting of nettle real quick because I think the image that comes to mind whenever

most

people hear the two words nettle is a plant. which is a nuisance and a It is a plant best avoided due to

stinging

, that is unfortunate because it has great edible and medicinal value and many useful properties beyond those when it comes to

stinging

metal, so we really shouldn't avoid the plant altogether.

If we seek to optimize nutrition, we seek to connect with the medicinal plant of our ecosystem, which is why there are stinging hairs throughout the plant, mainly on the stem, on the pedals of the leaves and on the surfaces of the leaves, both on the superior. and the lower part depending on the species and botanically these hairs are known as TRC combs and they act like hypodermic needles, so every time a human brushes these hairs when they are mature, there is a silica tip that breaks off and these trichomes they al

most

act like hypodermic needles that pierce the skin, pierce the skin, actually inject a chemical cocktail, various compounds and there are various neurotransmitters and acids that are injected into the skin. neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, histamine, serotonin, yes, that makes you feel good.

You are injected with a chemical serotonin that can cause irritation to various acids such as formic acid, tartaric acid and oxalic acid. Now there are many ways to mitigate these things and if you harvest a plant at the right time it probably won't sting at all and we're going to address all of these concerns as we work. our way through the video by picking them belongs to the casier ertic family and worldwide there are about 54 genera and over 2600 species here in North America we only have about six genera and this family primarily describes plants that are herbaceous, have simple leaves and leaves. which are opposite to each other in most cases, we will not always talk about a double that does not have leaves arranged oppositely, but at least in the case of the net and many of the other plants in the family have opposite leaves . leaves that are simple here in Pennsylvania we have two species of the genus ertica we have nle stain Tica dioa we also have Tica urin Tica urin is primarily found in the southeastern part of the state and is an annual plant, but here in western Pennsylvania we actually see ertica dioa Now the interesting thing is that there are two subspecies of ertica dioa singing nle.

We have the dioa subspecies which is native to Europe so it's not native here in the United States and that one has heart shaped leaf bases, heart shaped leaf bases and the stinging hairs are found both on the top as on the bottom of the leaves. The grasis subspecies is native to the United States. it doesn't actually have prominent cordate leaf-shaped bases, so it doesn't appear to be heart-shaped at the base and sting. the hairs are mainly limited to the underside of the leaves, so ertica dioa subspecies dioa native to Europe ertica dioa subspecies grassless native to the United States both are nettles, although they are both of the same species, we can both use them exactly the same. the same way Nettle is a perennial plant that can become quite large, so when mature it can reach heights of 2 m, which is about 6 and 1/2 feet, and can become even larger than now grows in dense connected colonies. by underground elevation zomes and if you look at this specimen here you will see that this is the aerial portion here and then here is a portion of the underground ryone and these are the roots shooting out of the underground ryone which is the underground stem and this is how they connect most colonies when you look at the aerial part you will see that the leaves are opposite each other they are directly opposite each other almost like a cross they are not staggered left right left Well, they are not alternate, but they are directly opposite each other and this is a very common feature for members of the Ertic Casa family and the leaves have thick teeth so they are serrated and not completely smooth around you.

You'll see there are a lot of teeth around here, they're not very fine like you might see on a birch, but they have coarser teeth on all sides and you'll see shades of green and purple, and the purple is very prominent when the plant is young. , so it's late March and we're approaching early April and you'll usually see some of these purple tints, especially on the underside of the leaves, so on the top it's dark green, but on the bottom, if you can see it right here. You'll see some of those reddish purple tones. You will typically find nettle almost anywhere in North America.

You will usually see it in sunny openings often along streams and in other wet places, but you will also see it in fields and farms. fenced roads and in disturbed areas like vacant lots and one of the key identifying characteristics that I just mentioned is that it usually grows in sunny openings because one of its imitations is the wood nettle Loria canadensis and honestly, whenever people talk about nettle, I have a feeling a lot of them are referring to the Loria canadensis nettle because that plant usually grows in the understory, it likes partial shade or shady areas, so if you're walking through the woods and it's a shady area and they bite you. for a plant, it could be the wood nettle laportia canadensis.

Also, that plant has leaves arranged alternately, so from left to right, from left to right, all the way up, the butt does not have opposite leaves as you would see when you chop them, this one has opposite leaves, but the wood nettle. It has leaves arranged alternately regardless of whether one is edible, there is another that looks similar, which is the false nettle Bia cylindrica, which does not have stinging hairs but superficially resembles the nettle, so it also has opposite leaves but does not have stinging hairs , the wood nettle. It has stinging hairs that will sting you, it also has a pretty powerful sting, but it has leaves arranged alternately, so let's talk about the nutritional and medicinal profile of the sting n n nle is one of the most

nutritious

plants in the habitats where it grows.

One of the reasons I was first introduced to spicy nle and why I became obsessed with it from the beginning was because I discovered how

nutritious

this plant could be and, according to authors like Sam, without the stinging hairs, herbivores would almost They would destroy this plant. Immediately, that's how nutritious it is and that's why it has these trichomes, perhaps to defend itself from herbivores that know how nutritious this plant is. From a nutritional point of view, this plant is very rich in protein, about 30% of the dry mass of Lea leaves, some people say up to 40% is protein, so it is very rich in protein and also in minerals.

We're looking at non-heme iron. A very high source of non-heme iron, calcium and magnesium carotenoids, so now we are talking about vitamins and vitamin C, one of the richest sources of the vitamin. C that we have here in nature, about 238 Mig of vitamin C per 100 G of tissue and that is quite high, let's compare it to the orange, so the orange, about 100 G of tissue, which is about an orange of medium size, has about 53.2 milligrams of vitamin. C that's pretty good, but it's not as high as 238 milligrams of vitamin C, so it's more than four times the amount of vitamin C gram for gram in Spicy Nal and vitamin C is an absolutely essential nutrient that we all need, We cannot make it ourselves and one of the easiest ways to acquire vitamin C is to nibble on some wild plants from time to time, including the very nutritious nettle.

Now we're going to move on to some of the medical research on nettle and there's a lot of research on this plant in human health and we're just going to focus on three particular areas of human health in this video, three particular areas that have been intensively researched in regarding nettle and the first is benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH, so BPH is a non-cancerous enlargement. of the prostate gland, this is a fairly serious condition. 50% of men at age 60 experience BPH symptoms and 90% of men at age 85 experience BPH symptoms and there are at least three, if not more, double-blind randomized placebo. control trial showing that nettle helps relieve BPH symptoms, so this is the gold standard when looking at randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in human participants.

We're not talking about test tubes. We're not talking about rats. about real life breathing men who experience the benefits of nettle now in these studies and most research is the rhyome of the plant, so these underground stem structures that provide the benefits for BPH do not necessarily the aerial portions, although they can help to a certain extent. but if you're looking to use this, definitely look at the ryome, which is the underground stem, and you can make an effective decoction, so you can also do alcohol extractions and another area where we see Nal's stinging brilliance is when it comes to allergies or allergic rhinitis, seasonal allergies and there was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial using 69 human participants that showed that a freeze-dried extract of the aerial portions of nettle had better results than placebo in the treatment of seasonal allergies and I can attest that I have experimented with this.

I've seen an allergy myself in the past and found that it works with just an alcohol extract, a simple alcohol extract of the aerial portions, meaning the leaves and maybe some of the surface stems. It worked successfully in treating some seasonal allergies, not only for me but it has also worked for other people I have talked to, other people I have given nettle to and last but not least, let's talk briefly about nettle in diabetes. Over the years, several double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials have been conducted. for example, one that shows that taking nettle extract was able to reduce certain inflammatory molecules associated with diabetes and these inflammatory molecules would be interlucin 6 and tumor necrosis factor.

Another more recent study found that ingesting sharp metal was able to successfully lower fasting blood glucose levels. decreased 2-hour postprandial glucose levels and also decreased hemoglobin A1c numbers and the most recent 2016 study found that ingesting nettle in women for 8 weeks was a Slater alcohol extract. Ingestion of nle was able to successfully lower fasting blood glucose levels. Decrease triglyceride levels, increase HDL, which is good cholesterol, and also increase the activity of grass or superoxide dismutase within our bodies. Grass superoxide dismutase is a group of antioxidant enzymes that is absolutely essential in combating excessive oxidation within our bodies and excessive oxidation is responsible for a number of degenerative conditions, so as you can see, nettle is a plant very medicinal, these are not the only studies that show that the bite can benefit human health, there are other areas besides benign prostatic hyperplasia, besides allergies, besides diabetes and me.

I recommend you look into them and if any of these diseases I mentioned are relevant to you, do more research on nettle and see what this plant can or cannot do for you, so now let's talk about how to harvest it properly. plant so you don't get bitten and you're probably wondering how come I'm not bitten right now. You know I'm handling this plant and I don't feel any stinging sensation, it's because this plant is very, very young. The best time to harvest nettle so that it has excellent flavor, so that the texturebe great and so you don't get stung it's early in the season so late winter and early spring it's about a 6 we window each time this plant is about 2 inches tall. or less here in Pennsylvania, that's late March to April, once it gets closer to the end of April the plants are getting a lot taller and those triccoms are maturing and they're going to bite you a lot easier.

You could see the trichomes right now if I look really close, I can see them, but they're not going to sting me because they're not ripe now, once this plant matures, you know it's July, August, September, you can still harvest portions of this plant. , what I would recommend. is harvesting the tender tips, those young tips that grow right here, you can still eat them raw, but I would probably cook them. You can harvest the larger leaves in the summer, but they will be much more ripe and will sting you much more easily, so you may need to wear gloves.

You can use scissors to cut them, but what I like to do is harvest those leaves in the summer and dry them. I dug them so I can save them and make teas with them, so at the beginning of the season I usually harvest nettles so I can eat the plant later during the summer months when the plant is overripe. some of the tender eating tips I will cook them, I will steam them like spinach, but usually I will harvest some of the larger leaves and they can get quite large, dehydrate them and put them in a jar and save them for tea and I will drink that tea practically all winter until the jar is empty and it is almost like a soup every time you drink it, it is more like food than tea because it is very nutritious and it is also medicinal, it feels very good to consume that broth during the winter months, but again, whenever you harvest this plant in the spring, it's okay to harvest it without gloves because you probably won't get stung once this plant matures, though during the summer months.

You're going to want to harvest the tender tops or use scissors or gloves and cook this plant later, early in the year, you won't get stung, but later in the year you definitely will, then there will be a Resurgence again in October. In November when everything is dying and you may see some of these plants sprouting again, you may be able to harvest the raw plants without getting stung, but once the summer month hits, definitely only harvest the top portions or just cut the leaves and dehydrate them so you can make tea with them and cook this plant;

Basically, it can be substituted for anything you would use spinach for, so it has a nice, rich Hardy broth flavor that is very hard to describe, you really can't. compare it to spinach, but for anything that uses spinach, you can definitely use stingy Netto too. There we have a lot of information about the beautiful dioa ertica nettle, but of course only a small fraction of everything we could. We may talk sometime and I encourage you to go out and introduce yourself to this plant if you haven't already learned more about it and don't stop there but then connect personally with this plant, one of the best ways to connect . any plant that is edible or medicinal you should ingest it personally, make it part of your dietary strategy and maybe even your medicinal strategy and if it is already part of your medicinal dietary strategy, please leave a comment below.

I would love to know how it has been. working for you, you know, I've been a big fan of sn for many years and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. Thank you very much for watching this video, as always. I really appreciate it. I encourage you to come learn. your land.com subscribe to the email newsletter follow me on social media subscribe to my YouTube channel if you like that sort of thing so we can stay in touch. I would really appreciate it, thanks again. See you in the next video