With so many nettles around us, it seems a shame to buy nettle tea. Making fresh nettle is really very easy.

Making the tea is the same as you would with fresh tea (not tea bags) – add boiling hot water to dried nettles and leave to infuse for your preferred strength, at least five minutes. If you make it stronger, and leave it to cool, you can use it topically, for example as a hair rinse to help reduce dandruff or improve lacklustre hair.

Leaves can be dried when the nettles are at their best in the early spring as the leaves get more toxic as the seasons progress. Pick after the dew has dried on a fine day. The roots are best harvested in the autumn.   Gather nettles that are away from cattle and dogs!  Tie into bunches and dry in an airy room, out of direct sunlight. Store for future use.    

The nettle is tough plant, it has managed to survive several ice ages.  To flourish, the nettle needs fertile soil, moisture and sunlight. Early man obliged by clearing the forests, thereby giving it a chance.  It was found growing near Neolithic settlements.

To our ancestors the nettle had many uses.  It was the first green to appear in the spring, and was a most welcome supplement to the diet.In Sweden it was grown as a farm crop, as hay for animals. In Scotland the fibrous stalks were treated in the same way as flax to make bed linen and table cloths. During the First World War the Germans made soldiers uniforms from the nettle. Green plant dye was obtained from the leaves, an yellow from the roots. At the present time research is being carried out to the claims that have been made as to the efficacy of the remedies.

The nettle has a long folk tradition, and information gleaned from Gabrielle Hatfield’s book Memory, Wisdom and Healing illustrates that the knowledge survives in the countryside, and passed down orally.   It is not just the fact that the nettle can treat so much, but how and when to collect the plant, March being suggested as the best time.  Science has proved that the later in the year the plant is picked, the more like it is to be toxic. Many plant constituents peak in the morning, and are best gathered from the shade, and also out of reach of animal pollution.  The diverse range of the plants healing powers are thus, a household might take the tea, for the grandfather it would help his sciatica, the aunt her pleurisy, and the young person to purify the blood.