Nettle: spring that stings

Most of us associate nettles - one of the best-known spontaneous plants - with memories of reddened hands and stinging calves: in fact, the main characteristic of the bright green plant is its sting, which is uncoincidentally also in the name. In fact, the etymology (of its Italian name Ortica ed.) refers to the Latin ùrere, to burn, and tactus, touch, leaving little room for the imagination. It is a resin that makes contact with the skin memorable. It is contained in tiny and very fragile spheres found on the hair that covers the foliage: at the slightest contact, it is released. For those passionate about botany, it is good to know that the level of irritability is different depending on the variety of nettle: so if contact with dioecious nettle (species in which the male and female flowers are on different plants) stings, that with the monoecious nettle does so more (male and female flowers on the same plant). Even more fearsome are the urentissima (island of Java) and the ferox (New Zealand) capable of causing very violent reactions. The collection of spontaneous vegetation always deserves special attention but, in this specific case, instructions are extremely useful. Generally, it is the newest shoots that are harvested: it is therefore better to have a pair of gloves, scissors and a basket. It is ideal to choose mountain nettles or those grown in soils far from pollution. The right season for harvesting is spring, before the stems harden. The period in which its active ingredients are at their most powerful is the month of April, which is also when the plant gives its best in the kitchen. Before tasting some recipes, it is worth remembering the many qualities in the herbal and phytotherapeutic fields, qualities known since ancient times. Among the writings that underline its virtues, in the words of Castor Durante, who in his "Herbario Nuovo" (1585), underlines that the nettle "is such a well-known plant that everyone knows it until the dark night” and is endowed with a very large number of “inside virtues” and “outside virtues”. In fact, it is known for its diuretic, purifying, anti-rheumatic, anti-haemorrhagic, hypoglycemic and curative properties for respiratory and throat diseases. According to Galenic medicine and the theory of humours, nettles have a dry temperament and one of the greatest Italian botanists,

Pietro Andrea Mattioli, who wrote one of the most beautiful herbariums ever in the 16th century, expresses himself on the same wavelength. In fact, Mattioli writes that the nettle "heals cancerous ulcers, and all those where it is necessary to dry without any stinging: because, being thin and dry in its parts, however, it is not so warm that it can sting", marking one of the typical features of the knowledge of the time, the contamination between medicine and phytotherapy. In the kitchen, the first secret to know is to handle it with care even after harvesting, therefore during the washing and cleaning phases. The stinging power of the leaves runs out after about 12 hours, or less if the plant is left to soak in water for a few hours. Nettle offers its most healthy properties when consumed fresh and raw. In this case, if the idea is to add the leaves to a mixed salad, it is good that they are kept in the fridge, wrapped in absorbent paper, where they can stay even one or two days. If a salad is certainly a hymn to the season of early fruits, there is

BY CATERINA VIANELLO

no doubt that nettle leaves can give greater satisfaction in cooking. Not much has changed since the Middle Ages: if there are indications in the cookbooks for dishes using the leaves, which are very rich in chlorophyll, as colorants in cakes and tortelli or for fillings, then today the leaves ( the young ones) reveal a remarkable versatility after being blanched and squeezed, allowing the nettle to appear across the entire menu, from appetizers to main courses. Risottos, soups and purees (perhaps with the addition of potatoes and barley), filling for tortelli, cannelloni and ravioli or colouring of the sheet of fresh pasta; and again to enrich omelettes, savoury pies, or simply blanched, sautéed in a pan with lard or bacon and garlic. And then again as a pesto, just like that of basil, with garlic, oil, pine nuts, Parmesan and salt, perhaps adding a little lemon juice.

Finally, lovers of boiled meat can replace the classic parsley-based green sauce with a new nettle-based ver sion. And on pizza? Added as a condiment or transformed into a cream, the leaves will certainly give a chromatic verve and flavour to the other ingredients, making the pizza that hosts them fully part of the category of "seasonal pizzas". When dried, the leaves can be transformed into a highly purifying infusion. As a final note, it is worth remembering how in the countryside nettles were used to feed animals: the leaves were in fact one of the main ingredients of "paston pai ochi", the feed for geese and hens, to which cornmeal and water were then added. Again, Castor Durante recalls how "the hens will lay eggs all winter long by giving them dry nettle in their food", confirming that nattles increased the production of hen's eggs and improved their colour. The same for cattle: not only did it increase milk production and make higher in fat, but it also helped make the butter yellower.