Description. This week's wild edible is Red Dead-Nettle! There are no known contraindications during pregnancy, when breastfeeding, or when taking prescribed medications. The dead white nettle is generally considered a safe plant to use in food and medicine. Unlike White Dead-nettle, there doesn’t seem to be the tendency for the leaves to become bitter with age. It is native to Europe and Asia, but has become commonplace in North American gardens and disturbed areas. Has been used as a herbal remedy for skin problems. Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), a German abbess, writer, and Christian mystique, was a great admirer of the herb and mentioned its benefits and healing properties in her writings. Native British nettles inject a cocktail of formic acid, histamine, acetylcholine and serotonin, and that is what causes the bobbly swelling and itchy skin we suffer when we brush up against it. We used all of these (the stinging nettle was dried, from the pantry), but you can omit all of them. Deadnettle genus has three edible plants in it that are found in eastern North America. Serves: 2 Chop and fry the White Dead Nettle tops to soften them up. (NOTE: If you are not interested in growing Deadnettles, but just finding the plants and using them, try going to the Nature's Restaurant Online site for the Lamium Genus.). Like yellow archangel, and other members of the dead-nettle family, it doesn't have stinging leaves. Green to red/purple. These can be identified by the white flowers on what looks similar to a stinging nettle. Comment document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a01a361c48b55955da45ef3178f1e873" );document.getElementById("c5ad99eb5f").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); On a sunny day white dead nettle, Lamium album, flowers can have a reserve of nectar at the base, if you have beaten the bees to them. Like yellow archangel, and other members of the dead-nettle family, it doesn't have stinging leaves. You can do the same thing with nettles: Pulse a handful of blanched nettles in a food processor to make a smooth paste. 8. Flowers do taste delicious – slightly sweet, fresh, a Spring treat! Add the nettles to the dough with the other wet ingredients (egg, milk, etc.). Once sown, lightly cover seeds with topsoil. Like the stinging nettle it is however edible and can be used in salads, stir-fry and soups for humans. When foraging for dead nettle, you’ll often find them near henbit. All content and photography © 2021 Wild Food UK. Infuse for 10 to 12 minutes. Depending on the variety, you can expect this ground cover to behave as a creeper, or a low-mounded perennial, with small flowers that resemble snapdragons blooming in summer. The White Dead-Nettle owes its name of Nettle to the fact that the plant as a whole bears a strong general resemblance to the Stinging Nettle, for which it may easily be mistaken in the early spring, before it is in bloom; but the flowers are absolutely different in … It has a mild, slightly grassy, somewhat floral flavor, and the purple tops are even a little sweet. Red dead-nettle is a common plant of roadside verges, waste grounds and field edges - anywhere the ground has been disturbed or cultivated. Its crimson flowers appear from March to … White dead-nettle often grows on fertile and nitrogenous places beside stinging nettle, and plants that are not in flower can be mistaken for it with their serrated leaves. See more ideas about nettle, herbalism, wild food. Continue the recipe as normal — you can add a small amount of extra flour if the dough is too moist. Isla Burgess can’t seem to say enough about white dead nettle for a female herb, but I cannot find the seeds here in the US to grow it, but we have lots of Lamium purpureum here in Michigan. The unusual common name of "dead nettles" alludes to the fact that, while it resembles stinging nettles, the stingers are … The flowers can hold a drop of nectar and make a pleasant tasting and looking addition to a salad. Tough, square stems. Red Dead-nettle is edible (as are the similar species mentioned above). People take white dead nettle flower for treating mild swelling (inflammation) of the upper airways, sore throat, chronic bronchitis, and heavy periods. Apr 15, 2018 - Explore Violet Roesner's board "White Dead Nettle" on Pinterest. Dead Nettle helps to treats the odor and treats Vaginal Discharge. Vary the herbs that you have on hand or what is in season. It thrives is fertile cultivated soils … They can also be dried for later use. White Dead Nettle Uses in Herbal Medicine. I’ve noticed that underneath each flower petal there’s a tiny anther/stamen with four perfectly rectangular black marks. Later, when the leaves become tougher and possibly bitter, you can steam or lightly cook the leaves and eat as a green. Because of its widespread nature, foraging for purple dead nettle (Lamium purpureum) is usually pretty easy. Is this also a key identifier? Consuming this edible can boost the immune system and fight off bacterial infections as well. A pleasant herb tea … Strain and add it to the bathing water. They also take it … Its white flowers appear from March right the way through to December. It tastes slightly like pistachios, and its white flowers can liven up even the dullest of dishes. They can be grown in either a sunny or partially shaded part of the garden that has … It can be used in salads, soups, blended into smoothies or made into a tea. How to Grow Dead Nettle and other Lamium Plant Species. Take 3 tablespoons of dried Dead Nettle flowers. The leaves are covered in a dense hairy down - and this can take away some from the mild flavor. The flavor is very mild, grassy - you can eat it stem and all, or pluck off the leafy tops. 2 big onions Very fibrous and covered in small non-stinging hairs. The leaves have fine hairs, are green at the bottom and shade to purplish at the top; they are 2–4 cm long and broad, with a 1–2 cm petiole (leaf stalk), and wavy to serrated margins.. Unlike its cousin the stinging nettle, the harmless white dead-nettle won't hurt you. Lamium purpureum grows with square stems to 5–20 cm (rarely 30 cm) in height. Identifying Purple Dead Nettle. Please note that each and every hedgerow item you come across may vary in appearance to these photos. Pour 500ml hot water in it. White dead-nettle is a common plant of roadside verges, waste grounds and grassy banks - anywhere the ground has been disturbed. Repeat it daily for 2 weeks. This plant is also known as purple dead-nettle and purple archangel. The flowers can hold a drop of nectar and make a pleasant tasting and looking addition to a salad. The leaves are a good source of vitamin A. Dead nettle is one of those plants that almost has everything going for it, until it doesn’t. Here's what you need to make this simple yet delicious soup: two big handfuls of white dead-nettle; some white dead-nettle flowers for decoration; optional: some other wild greens like dandelion leaves, yellow dock and stinging nettle. Although it is in the mint family, it doesn’t have a minty taste. Pour beaten eggs into the pan, and add grated cheese. Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes Foraging Courses, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon Foraging Courses, Dead Nettles, White Dead Nettle, Red or Purple Dead Nettle, Yellow archangel, Henbit Dead Nettle. Thanks for the video, I have lots of that plant at the allotment, it did come to me as family of the stinging nettles, did not know it was edible tho, will be trying some of those flowers now. Dead-nettle's reported to be highly nutritious, abundant in … Here is a White Dead Nettle, setting seed alongside the Middenweg and the park. Only young leaves or bright green tops of larger plants are usable for cooking unless flaming over a fire when more of the plant can be used. Both have purple, tubular flowers appearing in clusters at the top of the plant. Add diced roasted potatoes and heat through. This is not absolute proof of its safety and it … Required fields are marked *. Purple dead nettle is hardy and resistant to obstacles – use it in magic related to the security and … Dead Nettles, Lamium: “Colorful Carpet” I need to start with some honesty. While dead nettle plants are flowering perennials, stinging nettles, by contrast, are noxious weeds (but edible when properly prepared). Your email address will not be published. White Dead-nettle . Green, nettle like arrow shaped leaves with very serrated edges, the underneath covered in small non-stinging hairs with some on top. I think you can quite clearly see how the flower and now seed clusters encircle the square Labiate family stem, quite unlike the unrelated but often mistaken Stinging Nettle. Even though White Dead-nettle is not an aromatic herb like some of its other family members, it is edible. Edible parts of White Dead Nettle: Young leaves - raw or cooked. Slightly like spinach when cooked but has a flavour of its own. Medicinally, white dead nettle is an astringent and demulcent herb that is mainly used as a uterine tonic, to reduce excessive menstrual flow and to arrest inter-menstrual bleeding. Thanks for your help on this. You can use Red Dead-nettle as per White Dead-nettle, Lamium album and the leaves and flowering tops are great in salads. All in a circle around the stem at the leaf nodes. Both plants are edible. Dead-nettle can be found in red/purple or white (Lamium album) and does not sting like the common nettle. The Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule), the Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum), and the White Nettle (Lamium … Juliet, can you tell me if you have ever used or heard of using Lamium purpureum similar to the sue as Lamium album? Dead nettles have no sting but probably evolved to look like stinging nettles as a defence against predators. Henbit and dead nettle are similar in size, but henbit has predominately green leaves, and dead nettle’s leaves have more purple. The promise is that Lamiums are fast-growing perennial ground cover or container plants that brighten partly sunny spots and produce charming flowers. Before the plant flowers, the young leaves and shoots are tender enough to eat raw. Your email address will not be published. The zygomorphic flowers are bright red-purple, with a top hood-like petal, two lower lip petal lobes … White dead nettle has been used as a medicinal herb for centuries in Europe. The flowers and young leaves are edible, and can be used in salads or cooked as a vegetable. White Dead Nettle Recipe Instructions. It is a very common herb that you can pick in copious amounts. Dead nettle herbal tea is exceptionally potent in healing kidney diseases, seasonal allergies, chills, and common colds. However you get used to it quickly. Sit in the water for 10 to 15 minutes or wash the Vagina with it. The time that you sow the seeds of Lamium is dependent upon the species that you are growing; Yellow ones should be sown in autumn; purple or white species should be sown in the spring. These marks are on all white dead nettles so could be used as a key identifier. If you’re doing a working related to healing magic, you can include purple dead nettle to help improve the health of the spirit as well as the body. Beautiful orchid like flowers growing in groups around the stem varying in colour from white to yellow to red/purple. Only young leaves or bright green tops of larger plants are usable for cooking unless flaming over a fire when more of the plant can be used. They can be added to salads or mixed with other leaves and cooked as a potherb. Woodland, hedgerows, the edge of commons, roadsides and paths. The British nettle carries its stinging barbs on the stem and the underside of the leaf for protection from those animals that might eat or uproot it. It is a cold hardy, shade tolerant annual plant that can be found in the winter in warmer climates. When I can, I make this a wild green sauce by adding whatever I can forage: dead nettle, henbit, sorrel, chickweed, dandelion greens and/or flowers, purslane, lambs’ quarters, violet leaves, field cress, monarda, wild onions, or garlic. Out of curiosity I picked a couple of stems and offered them to Daisy and Hazel. Cook until done which depends on whether you like your eggs slightly gooey or rock solid. Lastly, the leaves can also be used externally to stop bleeding as well as heal cuts, burns, and bruises. I can almost guarantee that you’ve seen purple dead nettle growing at one time or another. Purple dead-nettle is edible, in fact, you can eat the entire plant. , Herbal medicine uses of white dead nettle, White Dead Nettle, Feta & Watermelon Salad, Bartram’s Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, Brooklime – A Foraging Guide to Its Food, Medicine and Other Uses, Primrose – A Foraging Guide to Its Food, Medicine and Other Uses. 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