Nettle tea has been utilized for hundreds of years to remedy breathing and skin problems, as well as ease joint pains and arthritis. Even if you’re in top-notch physical health, a cup of nettle tea can regulate your hormones, soothing your brain, in addition to produce a boost of much needed vitamins and minerals. And the best part of all? You can readily produce it in your home!
Needless to say, the initial step in producing your own cup of nettle tea is being able to identify a nettle plant. If you’re unsure what a nettle plant looks like, a quick search on the internet will offer you loads of visual aids. When Mother Nature is involved, be certain that you realize precisely what you happen to be handling. A number of plants look quite similar but one might be good for you while the other may very well be incredibly toxic. When uncertain, ask an expert before ingesting anything.
When you know what you’re looking for, any woods, thickets or maybe the side of the highway are perfect spots to locate the nettle plant. It grows similar to a weed, since, well, it is one! The most important rule of nettle plant harvesting is to use gloves and long sleeves as well as use scissors, minimizing your touching the leaves whenever possible. Nettle leaves are covered with almost undetectable hair-like stingers that leave a nasty rash on your skin. Also, make sure you collect your nettle leaves from areas not treated with herbicides or are in contact with other chemicals (for example car exhaust right next to a busy street).
When picking your nettle leaves pick newer plants (around spring time) and cut off the bright green tips to collect (the leaves get bitterer as they age). The nettle leaves ought to be washed to remove all dirt and insects after which they could either be dried out for future pots of tea or used straight away fresh. To dry the nettle leaves, layer them over a paper towel and allow them to air dry. They may then be placed in an airtight jar for future use.
There are plenty of recipes out there on-line as to how you can make a wonderful cup of nettle tea; nevertheless, they are subjective as different people might choose to use more or less nettle leaves based on how bitter they like the tea. A common recipe is usually to have a tablespoon of dried nettles and to brew it in boiling water for not less than ten minutes. The leaves must be brewed for the full ten minutes so the water can deactivate the stingers. If not, you won’t die, however, you may get a mild stomach ache or ‘tingling’ feeling when drinking the tea (you could possibly get anyway, should you have a sensitive system but this should go away when your body builds up a tolerance to the tea). The leaves may then be drained and the tea safely enjoyed.
Read more about stinging nettle tea
If you are looking for more of a power punch from your nettle leaves, you could make a nettle infusion, that is essentially a nettle tea that has brewed longer. A suggested recipe is to take one ounce of nettle leaves and one quart of boiling water and just let them soak for, at the minimum, a few hours, or overnight while in the fridge. Be sure to continue to refrigerate the infusion so that it won’t spoil (and if it does, it can make a fantastic fertilizer for the garden). The infusion may be warmed up to enjoy as an extra strong tea or served over ice or put into fruit juice for a cold, tasty refreshment.
If you love the health rewards of a cup of nettle tea, but cannot get past the taste, adding lemon, honey or even sugar can make your cup of tea a whole lot better for you. Additionally, other herbs and plant leaves are usually blended in with the nettle leaves to make your own personal custom super tea! A popular addition for people being affected by indigestion is rosemary, which aids in the discharge of bile to help process fats. Red raspberry leaves combined with nettle leaves can create a fantastic tonic for an expectant mother, as both assist with alleviate excessive bleeding after childbirth. Try out some marvelous combos for yourself!
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