Nettle
Nettle is the young leaf and shoot of the stinging nettle, a herbaceous perennial covered in stinging hairs that lose their sting when the plant is dried, steeped in hot water, or fermented. Long valued as a spring green, it also has a durable place in the world of steeped, brewed, and lightly fermented drinks.
How nettle is prepared
The dried leaves and flowers are steeped as a caffeine-free herbal tea; the leaves are also used to make traditional cordials and country wines, small beers, and modern botanical soft drinks. The water in which nettles are cooked has itself been consumed as a medicinal drink.
Other preparations
The ingredient list says verbena; the product introduction names lemon verbena. The extract is added before the bottle fermentation.[4][5]
In depth
An ancient wild plant of Europe and Asia
The stinging nettle is native to Europe, temperate Asia, and western North Africa, and has since spread across the globe. It grows readily in damp, fertile soil, frequently around old settlements and abandoned buildings, which made it one of the most accessible wild plants for country people. From very early times its leaves were gathered as food, and because boiling or drying neutralizes the stinging chemicals, it was a natural candidate for drinks as well as dishes. The plant has a long documented history as a source of food, medicine, tea, and fiber in both ancient and modern societies, giving it deep roots in the beverage traditions of the regions where it grows.[1]
Nettle as a herbal tea
One of the oldest and simplest ways to turn nettle into a drink is to dry the leaves, and sometimes the flowers, and steep them in hot water. Because the plant is not brewed from the true tea shrub, this is technically a herbal infusion, or tisane, and like most such infusions it is naturally caffeine-free. Nettle leaf appears among the long roster of common herbal teas alongside plants such as chamomile, peppermint, and rooibos. Hot water deactivates the sting, so a nettle infusion can be drunk safely and has traditionally been valued both as a pleasant grassy beverage and as a folk remedy.[2]
The cooking-water tradition and medicinal drinking
Because nettle has long been prepared as a soup across Northern and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, a related drinking custom grew up around it. The boiling water used to cook young spring nettles removes the sting and draws out the plant's minerals and color, and in several traditions this liquid was not discarded but consumed. In the nettle soup tradition of Mazandaran in northern Iran, for example, the water in which the nettles are simmered is saved and drunk as a tea for medicinal purposes. This reflects a broader folk belief, especially strong in Ireland and other parts of Europe, in the nettle as a spring tonic and blood purifier taken during April and May when the young growth is at its best.[3]
Nettle small beers and country wines
Beyond simple infusions, young nettles have long been used to make fermented and alcoholic drinks. In rural Britain and Ireland the plant was a traditional ingredient in homemade nettle beer, a lightly fermented country ale in which the boiled tops were combined with sugar and sometimes other herbs, and in nettle wine made along the same lines as other wild-plant country wines. These drinks belong to the same seasonal, self-sufficient tradition as nettle soup, exploiting the abundant free spring growth. Fermentation also has a practical role for nettle, since it breaks down the gritty mineral particles that develop in the leaves after flowering, in the same way that acid or cooking makes older leaves usable.[1]
Nettle in the modern no- and low-alcohol scene
Today nettle remains a favorite of foragers and craft producers, and it has found a fresh role in the growing world of botanical soft drinks, cordials, and non-alcoholic specialty beverages. Its green, grassy, faintly savory character suits contemporary tastes for wild, herbaceous, and less sweet drinks, and it is used in nettle cordials and syrups, sparkling nettle presses, and blended herbal infusions. As a caffeine-free herbal ingredient with a strong sense of place and season, nettle sits comfortably alongside other traditional plant infusions in modern low- and no-alcohol drink culture, carrying its long European heritage of spring tonics into new formats.[2]
References
- [1]EncyclopediaUrtica dioica — Wikipedia↑§1↑§4
- [2]EncyclopediaHerbal tea — Wikipedia↑§2↑§5
- [3]EncyclopediaNettle soup — Wikipedia↑§3
- [4]Product informationN°5 Pét-nat Rosé↑prepared
- [5]Product informationN°5 Pét-nat Rosé 750ml↑prepared