Stinging nettles are a prime example of weeds only being weeds because you don't want them growing where they happen to be. These weeds, which can be prolific and invasive where they thrive, happen to be remarkably delicious and have a long history as both a culinary treat and folk remedy. They have a deep, dark grassy flavor that is a bit like spinach, but less earthy and without a trace of that metallic bitterness spinach sometimes has.
Look for them in spring and early summer.
Ouch, They Sting!
The only downside to dealing with stinging nettles is that they do, indeed, sting. Their leaves and stems are covered with trichomes, which inject anything that touches them with a mix of compounds that includes histamine that causes stinging, itching, and a rash.
For that reason, be sure to wear gloves - or just plastic bags over your hands - when you handle nettles.
Note: Super young specimens haven't developed their trichomes and thus their ouch-factor yet. The trichomes develop on the leaves before the stems, so if you come across young nettles, you may be able to handle them, particularly by the stem, bare-handed.
How to Use Nettles
The season for nettles is relatively short, so I like to eat them in a concentrated fashion, in dishes that really highlight their amazingly deep yet spring-like flavor. A few classic preparations that really let nettles shine include:
Or, try something a bit different like:
If you want to experiment a bit with them, use nettles as you would in any recipe that calls for cooked spinach. This Spinach Lasagna or this Spinach Rice Pilaf, for example, would both be delicious with stinging nettles instead.
How to Store Nettles
Like other tender greens, stinging nettles cook down to a fraction of their raw volume. You can store them in plastic bags in the fridge for a few days. I tend to use them the day I buy them and go ahead and blanch them right away. What is blanching? It's giving the nettles a quick dunk in boiling salted water, a move that removes their irksome sting. See How to Blanch Nettles for details.
Once blanched, you can store well squeezed and dried out nettles in a plastic bag in the fridge for several days before you use them, if you like. Or, if you really have more nettles than you can possibly use anytime soon, pop them in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Where to Find These Stinging Devils
Stinging nettles grow all over the U.S. and Canada, even down into parts of northern Mexico. (For readers on other continents, they are also common in Europe.) They like highly fertile soil and lots of water. Nettles are particularly prolific in the Pacific Northwest, where giant piles of them can be found at farmers markets.
Nettles are usually foraged more than cultivated, so farmers who sell them either find them on other lands or pull them up from their farm where they may grow wild in ditches, old garden patches, or edges of fields.