Nutrients

[Mash]

I good spirit follows a smooth unstressed ferment.

I have high hopes for you!

[DorsetScott]

Looking forward to the end result bb

[Sponge]

For anyone that might be interested I picked the top 4/6 leaves as per Dorsetscott's instructions for soup. Took 10mins to get a carrier bag 3/4 full. I washed em and boiled 500g in 2l of water for 5mins or so till the stems were tender then blitzed the cooked nettles and put them back in the water I cooked them in. When cooled I split between 4 fermenters. Hopefully that was enough, but we'll see in a few days.
P.S. after I blitzed I had a taste, it was not dissimilar to that stuff that popeye the sailor was so keen on. Nettle soup next

Hi Bob after reading your thread the other day I went and picked a carrier bag full of nettles and followed what you have done and it has been bubbling away for the last 3 days
I also experimented with storage of the nettle juice and distilled 2 litres down to just over 500ml. Just to see if it still worked I added 50ml of the concentrate to a 5ltr wash and it's fermenting just as well as the others at the moment.
I'll wait to see if it finishes and how it compares to the juice I did not concentrate. and if so then will try experimenting with distilling the nettle juice down even further. If it works then this would help with being able to store it throughout the year when nettles are sparse or flowering?

[buffalobob]

Nice one sponge. Storage for when they are in flower was a concern for me too. I did my spirit run today which ended up with a very good neutral. I might keep some to see what it's like in a month or so. Most of my neutral gets turned into gin though to keep my OH subdued

[Mash]

You can boil and freeze kale in takeaway containers (remember those!) so I think it will be just the same for nettle. Like a big ice cube really.

[Mash]

.. And if your mash is just a little warm, dump it in whole straight from the freezer.

[buffalobob]

I steam mine until it wilts down then blitz it. Then I freeze it. I don't have much freezer space so freezing just the nettles without water is better for me. I've told my OH it's a bonafide superfood but I still get bollocked for filling the freezer with brewing crap

[Mash]

If blitzing it down to a pulp, Slap it in an old ice cube tray. Them just use then 1 at a time.

[buffalobob]

Thats a good idea, mine is frozen in a big lump at the moment getting some small freezer bags for it tomoz so I can stash bits whenever I can get it in my titchy freezer.

[buffalobob]

Ran the stripped nettle wash through my reflux column t'other day. It came out at 94% all the way through thanks to my lovely new spontex packing . It had a very clean taste too. My kale neutral always had a very slight brassica taste to it but this nettle strip doesn't seem to have that. Gin botanicals have been soaking for long enough so thats going in my pot still now to keep her indoors happy (and me too) cheers Bob

[buffalobob]

I poured a kale wash gin and a nettle wash gin for my beloved and she picked the nettle wash gin as the best one of the two. One gin was 3 month old and the one she picked was 3 minutes old. I reckon thats good going considering it was fresh out of the still. Off nettling again tomoz

[Easydrinker]

I have some nettles in the freezer, and can't wait to compare nettle with my usual neutral.

Robert.

[DorsetScott]

I'm a massive nettle head, absolutely love them from eating simply, through to making cordage with them and even rennet for cheese, so I am so chuffed they have made a great neutral. Will definitely be trying this. Cheers Bob

[buffalobob]

Just a heads up re nettle situation. I noticed some in full sun were forming flowers today. Still managed to get some in the woods that were ok.

[Easydrinker]

Oh Latitudes!
I swear there is not a nettle near me taller than two inches!
And still only dreaming of flowering...

Robert.

[buffalobob]

That's cos you don't live in the balmy tropic of N.Yorks Robert next year I'll be out on foraging duty earlier so I can bag up on stingy b'stards. I spotted a decent sized area of newly disturbed ground with a good covering of young nettles on my way home, I'll check em out soon.

[Mash]

2 inches! They are 2 foot here

[DorsetScott]

Worth noting a lot of places will have a second coming of younger nettles.
And especially areas where they are cut back, you will get regrowth.

There will generally be somewhere nearby with pickable nettles for a large portion of the year, you just need to be on the lookout

[phantom]

"pioneer" plants ? well sort of, is my thinking. Blackthorn is similar.

That is, always one of, or the first plants to colonize disturbed soil ?

Though nettles also have a good recovery mechanism, if cut back and still early in the season.

And round here, worse than Mash's report, but I'd play the regional weather trump card on that..........

[buffalobob]

Rosebay willowherb is usually one of the first to establish in disturbed ground too, and brambles
I was a little bit disturbed this morning. I read on the BBC Food website about how it's good to garnish nettle soup with nettle flowers . Think they might be making themselves liable with advice like that.

[DorsetScott]

Are you sure it was nettle flowers and not dead nettle flowers (or something else entirely)?

You're going down a rabbit hole here BB but here we go.

It is only the leaves which become inedible after the plant flowers. Nettle flowers taste of nothing but are edible. The seeds are also edible, they contain Omega 3 oils, and many herbalists use them in treatment of kidney ailments and also to support adrenal function. Some people are that sensitive to the increased adrenal response that they have been unable to sleep for a night after just a teaspoon of the seeds.

Also now you mention it you can make a lovely syrup out of Rosebay Willowherb flowers too.

[gaza the instructor]

What about Clover? Or is that just unlucky??

[Mash]

Don't mention willow quacking herb, I was accidentally cultivating the fecker a couple of years ago. Cookewombling stuff. Utter quacker to get rid of!

I need a drink now!

[buffalobob]

It was dead nettle flowers used for garnishing Scott. I won't be scoffing any if they rob you of sleep. If anyone needs beauty sleep it's me . Ive not slept properly since missing that documentary about Kate Humble's badger

[DorsetScott]

What about Clover? Or is that just unlucky??

You jest, but red clover flowers are used as a tea, and you can mix it with other spring flowers in a champagne ala elderflower champers

It was dead nettle flowers used for garnishing Scott.

Dead nettles are a totally different genus, no stings at all. Also edible like nettles but not particularly tasty. You can pick the flowers and suck the nectar out which is a little sweet treat when out and about