A summary of making nettle tea
Nettle tea has been used for centuries to help remedy breathing and skin disorders, as well as reduce joint aches and arthritis. Even when you are in tip-top physical health, a glass of nettle tea can control your hormones, soothing the mind, as well as provide a boost of important vitamins and minerals. What makes this great drink even better? You can easily produce it from home!
Needless to say, the 1st step in preparing your own homemade mug of nettle tea is being capable of find a nettle plant. If you are unsure know what a nettle plant looks like, a brief search on the internet will give you plenty of pictures. When working with Mother Nature, ensure you know just what you might be handling. A number of plants look quite similar but one might be good for you whilst the other may be extremely poisonous. When in doubt, ask an expert before consuming anything.
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When you know what you’re looking for, any woods, thickets and even the side of the highway are perfect locations to find the nettle plant. It grows similar to a weed, since, well, it is one! The most important rule of nettle plant picking is to make sure you wear gloves and long sleeves and to use scissors, minimizing your contact with the leaves as much as possible. Nettle leaves are protected with nearly undetectable hair-like stingers that leave a nasty rash on your skin. Also, you’ll want to collect your nettle leaves from areas not treated with herbicides or are in contact with other chemicals (like car exhaust right alongside a busy street).
When selecting your nettle leaves pick newer plants (around spring time) and cut off the bright green tips to collect (the leaves get bitterer with age). The nettle leaves must be washed to remove all dirt and insects and then they might either be dried for future pots of tea or used right away fresh. To dry the nettle leaves, layer them over a paper towel and allow them to air dry. They might then be saved in an airtight jar for future use.
There are plenty of recipes available on-line regarding how to make the perfect mug of nettle tea; nevertheless, they are subjective as some people may want to use different quantities of nettle leaves based on how bitter they like the tea. A conventional recipe would be to take a tablespoon of dried nettles and to brew it in boiling water for not less than ten minutes. The leaves must be brewed for a full ten minutes so the water can deactivate the stingers. Or else, you won’t die, but you could easily get a mild stomach ache or ‘tingling’ feeling when drinking the tea (which you might get anyway, in case you have a sensitive system but this will vanish because your body forms a tolerance for the tea). The leaves may then be drained and the tea safely enjoyed.
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If you are looking for more of a power punch from the nettle leaves, you could make a nettle infusion, that is basically a nettle tea which has brewed for a longer period. A suggested recipe would be to take one ounce of nettle leaves and one quart of boiling water and just let them soak for, at the very least, a couple of hours, or overnight in the fridge. Be certain to continue to refrigerate the infusion in order that it won’t spoil (in case it does, it can make an excellent fertilizer for use on your garden). The infusion may be warmed up to savor as an extra strong tea or poured over ice or combined with juice for a cold, yummy drink.
If you want the health rewards of a mug of nettle tea, but don’t enjoy the taste, adding lemon, honey or just sugar can make your cup of tea much more enjoyable for you. Additionally, other herbs and plant leaves could be blended together with the nettle leaves to make your personal custom super tea! A popular addition for people being affected by indigestion is rosemary, which is great for the discharge of bile to help you process fats. Red raspberry leaves coupled with nettle leaves can produce an incredible tonic for an pregnant woman, as both help to alleviate excessive bleeding after childbirth. Test out some marvelous combos of your own!