Nettles!

You will not find a more useful Scottish plant than the humble nettle.

The nettle has more uses than you could scarcely imagine. Gardeners used to cultivate the plant as a delicious, not to mention nutritious, alternative to kale. St. Kildans, however, thought the plant more fittingly used to make ale. They used nettle roots, fermented with a barley meal dough, to help make the nights pass a little bit quicker. Others made nettle juice and used it as a substitute for rennet to make cheese. What else?

Have I mentioned medicinal uses? The nettle can also be used as a cure for nosebleeds and headaches not to mention aa a diuretic. Or perhaps you might try making a cough syrup or sleeping draught. What about as an aphrodisiac?

Shetlanders, have in the past, placed nettles between the sheets of a loved ones bed in an attempt to secure affection or a positive answer to a proposal. Or perhaps if you gathered your nettles on St. Johns eve you might want to use them to undo a spell which has been cast against you. All very well you say, but what about more practical uses?

Nettle fibres can be used to weave cloth, indeed they were used for that purpose from prehistoric times right up until the late 18th century. Nettle fabric makes a durable, strong and fine linen. Amazingly the fabric could be self dyed because the nettle tops of young plants can be used to make yellow and green dyes. In fact the dyes were once used in the making of Harris Tweed. Why were nettles so popular?

Perhaps rather unpleasantly, nettles used to grow prolifically around the walls of every dwelling house. It seems they thrived in the nitrogen rich soil surrounding houses which had, shall we say, no internal bathrooms! So whats the downside of the humble nettle?

Well they're obviously useful but they also give a very nasty sting. The tips of the nettle contain a strong poison. Brushing against a nettle will result, often through clothing, in a very sore and itchy rash which remains most unpleasant for several hours. I remember as a wee boy jumping, unknowingly, across a ditch and straight into a nettle patch where I promptly landed on my hands and knees. Believe me, I have never done it again.

One word of warning. If you attempt to use nettles as an ingredient for a food or drink, make sure you know what you are doing. Unless used properly they can be poisonous. Please be very careful.

_{Copyright 1995/96 Catalyst (Highlands) Ltd.
Pages by Webspinner
admin@catalyst-highlands.co.uk}