Nettle soup

[John Fenna]

I just made my first nettle soup of the year - luxury version!

1/2 lb of nettles
1 large onion
clove of garlic
2 large spuds
Salt & pepper
Single cream
2 pints stock
I sliced and sweated the onion, garlic and spuds in a little olive oil then added the stock and nettles.
Brought this all to the boil and boiled it until the spuds were cooked (about 20mins).
Put it all through a blender and served it with a swirl of cream and a sprinkle of s & p.
It tasted great but despite cooking it well I found that the formic acid in the netles left my lips and mouth tingling as if I had had a mild curry......I thought cooking destroyed the acid...
Anyone got any thoughts on this?

[Cobweb]

Boil the nettles seperatley John

[rancid badger]

Did you boil up the nettles first John? I'm nearly certain that Neil Taylor ( on our spring forage) said that he had boiled the nettles on their own for a while, before adding anything else.

Cheers
Steve

[John Fenna]

Aint never heard of doing that before...never had the formic curry effect before either!
I am not saying that the soup was unpleasant (in fact it was great!) it is just that after cooking nettles in the past for soup/tea/veg I have never had the sensation of the acid still being present in any noticable way.
I know some places have nettle eating contests where folk see how many RAW nettles they can eat - but I think that it must be an aquired taste.....

[locum76]

i had a nettle omelette recently, the nettles were washed, chopped and bunged in to fry with egg - no stinging.

[xylaria]

We had nettle soup the other week and we had no burning. Our recipe was pretty similar to yours as well, except cauliflower instead of spuds, but plenty of cream and pepper, we used ramsons. It might be your body's way of saying you shouldn't eat too much it. Nettle soup can be a bit rich in an odd way. The sting denatures nearly instantly once heated.

[Dark Horse Dave]

Hello Mrs Dark Horse Dave here,

I treat the nettles like any other delicate leafy green vegetable...they only need about 10 mins just to wilt them. I add them as my last ingredient when making soup. You must however use the top 2-3 pairs of leaves only of fresh new spring growth and certainly before the nettle flowers.

You can find new growth all year round though...just look in those cool shady places under hedges etc.

See ya.

[Nagual]

I've not had the bottle to try this yet, but according to Jamie Oliver, picking the leaves of nettles as they flower, you don't need to do anything to them as they have no sting... Never had any trouble removing the sting though from non flowering ones. Perhaps you had a particularly strong bunch?

[rancid badger]

I'm just thinking John; (very dangerous!) Neil, our F.C. food for free specialist, mentioned about allergic reactions to various plants and how they can affect different people different ways.
Is it possible that the sensation you experienced was a mild allergy

cheers
Steve

[John Fenna]

I must be showing my sensitive side....

[Wildfoodie]

I've not had the bottle to try this yet, but according to Jamie Oliver, picking the leaves of nettles as they flower, you don't need to do anything to them as they have no sting... Never had any trouble removing the sting though from non flowering ones. Perhaps you had a particularly strong bunch?

That's a popular misconception! the white dead nettle is often confused for the stinging nettle in flower stinging nettles will sting until they're exposed to high heat (cooked) or they dry out completely.
people don't always go for he youngest growth and pick leaves which are old or from plants which aretoo close to flowering. that's usually what makes nettles taste gritty, tough or otherwise unpleasant.

[John Fenna]

I had a second meal from the soup I made - still tastes great - but this time a reduced "curry tingle".
Would boiling it again have reduced the formic acid more?(it was well boiled the first time).
I would have thought that if it was an allergy I would have reacted equally.
Confused!
As I like spicy food the "curry tingle" does not worry or distress me - I just want to know why I get it of this recipe!

[chickenofthewoods]

Do you have other allergies? It seems that it's not principally formic acid but a histamine cocktail in the sting which may explain why some folks get a reaction from them. I found this which might explain a bit more clearly:

What's in the sting?
The stinging structure of the nettle is very similar to the hypodermic needle although it predates that man-made invention by millions of years! Each sting is actually a hollow hair stiffened by silica with a swollen base that contains the venom. The tip of this hair is very brittle and when brushed against, no matter how lightly, it breaks off exposing a sharp point that penetrates the skin and delivers its stinging payload.

It used to be thought that the main constituent of the sting was formic acid - the same chemical used by ants, giving that never forgotten burning sensation that demands to be scratched. Although formic acid is present in the sting, recent research has shown that the main chemicals are histamine, acetylcholine and 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin). A fourth ingredient has yet to be identified.

[Nagual]

That's a popular misconception! the white dead nettle is often confused for the stinging nettle in flower stinging nettles will sting until they're exposed to high heat (cooked) or they dry out completely.
people don't always go for he youngest growth and pick leaves which are old or from plants which aretoo close to flowering. that's usually what makes nettles taste gritty, tough or otherwise unpleasant.

Cheers for that, goes to show that Mr Oliver doesn't always know whats he's on about, although you'd have thought his gardener would have.

Cheers, nag.

[fishy1]

I made some good burgers for the barbeque today, peppers,minced beef, onions and nettles. Superb.

[John Fenna]

I have no known allergies - and the sensation was not so bad as to stop me making this recipe again!
Interesting about the acid only being part of the sting - this was new to me!

[ol smokey]

I have just made my first nettle soup using a recipe from Collins book 'Food for Free'. The nettles were cooked first before using them for soup, and there was no problem with tingling of any kind. However the soup was far from exciting. I will try your recipe next time.
Ol'Smokey's wife.