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As a kid, the only nettles I knew had a smooth swing (perfect for the right-field porch in Yankee Stadium) and was a defensive wizard at third base.
That would be Graig Nettles for those of you non-baseball fans.
Now as an adult, I’ve learned to identify, harvest, and cook nettles, the edible plant that grows abundantly this time of year.
To think that I used to want to be the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees (damn you, Derek Jeter) and now I’d just rather hang out in fields and pick edible weeds.
Oh, how my life has changed.
Not sure that’s good or bad (according to my mother it’s very bad), but at the very least, when the apocalypse comes, I’ll be able to survive on stinging nettles soup for a few weeks in the spring.
Apocalypse or not, it’s definitely a great skill to learn to identify the edible foods that grow all around you. (Check out my other posts on fiddleheads and Japanese knotweed.)
Fun too (though it doesn’t pay as much as being a professional baseball player).
As I showed in my last post, stinging nettles have a wide variety of health benefits and are easy to find, harvest and cook.
And one of the easiest ways to cook them is in a soup!
This is even more true if you have an immersion blender.
Not sure if we’ll have electricity when the apocalypse comes but in the meantime, you’ll definitely want one of these handy kitchen appliances, especially for a stinging nettles soup.
This soup is best with a creamy consistency and while you could use a regular blender, it’s a somewhat time-consuming and messy process as you have to transfer the soup in batches from the stove to the blender and then back again.
It can also be dangerous.
Never fill your blender more than halfway and keep firm pressure over the lid with an oven mitt or kitchen towel. Hot soup can easily splatter in a regular blender and burn you. It happened to me once and it was not fun.
Just use an immersion blender.
They’re cheap too.
I have the one that’s pictured. It’s super lightweight and beyond simple to use.
Stinging nettles, onions, potatoes and broth all blended together and finished with some creme fraiche or sour cream makes for a deceptively delicious springtime soup.
Craig Fear is the creator of Fearless Eating and the author of three books, The 30-Day Heartburn Solution, Fearless Broths and Soups and The Thai Soup Secret. After years helping clients with digestive issues, Craig decided to pursue writing full-time. He intends to write many more books on broths and soups from around the world! Click here to learn more about Craig.
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