Nettle Soup

Nettle Soup from The Mystic Cookfire, by Veronika Sophia Robinson

Large bunches of nettles
5 potatoes, chopped into small cubes
2 onions, finely chopped
5 cups of water
Vegetable bouillon

Gently fry the onions until clear, add the potatoes. There’s no need to peel the potatoes if you use organically-grown ones. There’s no need to wash the nettles if they’ve grown away from roadside pollution. I don’t recommend ever picking nettles from the roadside. Cut with scissors, and add to the pot. Cover with five cups of boiling water which has had 5 tablespoons of bouillon powder added, and simmer until the potatoes are soft. You can blend a little of the soup and return it to the pot to make it creamier. Season with freshly ground black pepper and smoked paprika, if desired.

A nettle a day keeps the iron tablets away!
Nettle tea is so good for the body, and is refreshing. High in iron, it’s well worth having a stash of dried leaves in your kitchen. You can make it from fresh leaves, too. Nettles lose their sting as soon as heat is applied to the leaves.

I use freshly picked leaves in my vegetable juices so I can get the maximum nourishment from this incredible ‘weed’. Nettles are deliberately left to grow in our garden, if not for our own use, then for the wildlife which visits. They’re always an indication of beautifully fertile soil, so adore them and let the plants flourish.