Nutritious nettles

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Steamed nettle leaves taste like spinach, and they can be combined with other ­vegetables to make a satisfying, protein-rich soup David Cavagnaro

IT’S A WONDER anyone ever got past the nettle’s sting to find the wealth of protein, vitamins, and minerals within. But they did, and we’re fortunate. In var­ious studies, dried nettles have been shown to contain between 25 and 42 percent protein—making them our best-known source of green vegetable protein. They’re also rich in calcium, magnesium, and zinc, and contain high levels of potassium, selenium, and other minerals, as well as vitamins B, C, and A.

Nettles have been used medicinally for centuries. The most ancient medical use of this prickly plant was for urtication—whipping paralyzed limbs with fresh nettles to bring muscles into action. Oldtime herbalists used to slap the flesh of arthritis sufferers with nettles to counter pain. In more recent times, hot poultices of nettle leaves have been used for this purpose.

Roman soldiers planted stinging nettles throughout Europe’s colder regions and rubbed the plants on their legs and arms to warm their blood. In commercial trade, mature nettle plants were an important source of fiber for making paper, rope, and cloth for fine table and bed linens. So versatile are nettles that the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell once reported, “In Scotland, I have eaten nettle, have slept in ­nettle sheets, and have dined off a nettle tablecloth.”