This is my most recent invention.
I pick wild stinging nettles regularly to put in my green juice as they are so very nourishing. The roots go way down and bring up a rich variety of helpful minerals. Plus they have plenty of chlorophyl and other green goodies. Juicing green vegetables – celery, cucumber, carrot tops, cabbage, kale, beetroot tops, tray- grown sunflower and pea greens … – is an essential part of a raw way of eating and wild greens are especially helpful. According to Brian Clement, director of the Hippocrates Health Institute, stinging nettle juice is as rich in nourishment as juiced young sunflower and pea greens.
It also has the distinct advantage of being free 😉
Pick your nettle tips when the plants are only about a foot high and long before they shoot up and form flowers and seeds. Just pick the youngest freshest leaves from the top of each short plant in the clump. Need I suggest wearing rubber gloves? There are plenty of young shoots to be found from spring onwards and even at this time of year.
Pick a supermarket bagful and juice them. Then follow this very easy recipe:
Singing Nettle Pasta
1/2 cup nettle juice
1/2 cup cold-pressed organic olive oil
1 clove of garlic
optional: A splash of tamari soy sauce or a sprinkle of sea salt
optional: 1/2 cup of pine nuts which you have soaked for a few hours or overnight in filtered water
Blend the nettle juice, oil and garlic till the garlic is completely blended in. Taste before seasoning lightly. Sometimes the mixture ends up as a thick cream and sometimes as a thin cream. The last batch was quite thin so I threw in the pine nuts. That gives quite a traditional pesto taste ( traditional basil pesto has pounded basil, garlic, lemon and pine nuts) and nutty protein benefits, but either way it is really delicious, a gourmet treat I think
Stir it into plenty of raw courgette pasta ( see page 44 in Good Raw Food Recipes ) to serve four
Singing nettle pesto? Try a little Pavarotti as you float along in your gondola with your bowl of pasta.