[Music]
everyone I'm Adam Harrison from learner
land and in this video I'm going to be
discussing one of my favorite wild
plants which is this one right here
stinging nettle Erica dioica this is one
of my favorite wild plants because one
of the first ones that I was introduced
to early on in my foraging days and
where I first discovered this plant in
the wild I brought some of that home
transplanted it's a little wild garden
that I was tending outside my own it was
really neat to watch this plant mature
season after season year after year and
really turn into a beautiful colony and
even to this day whenever I do discover
stinging nettle in the wild there's
never a time when I see it where I'm not
really excited needless to say it still
holds a very special place in my heart
and in this video what we're going to do
is talk all things stinging nettle
including what causes it to sting you
and what we do to mitigate some of that
sting we're going to talk about the
identification of course nutritional
benefits medicinal benefits including
brand new research there's definitely
one to pay attention to that we're gonna
talk about how to properly process this
plant for consumption in a whole lot
more so stay tuned not any further
introduction of my part let's dig deeply
into the wonderful wild world of
stinging nettle
[Music]
so let's address the sting of stinging
that oh really quickly because I think
the image that comes to mind whatever
most people get a two-word stinging
nettle is a plant that the nuisance and
a plant that's best to be avoid because
of this day now that's unfortunate
because there is a whole lot of edible
value and medicinal value and a lot of
useful properties beyond that is when it
comes to singing metal and so we
shouldn't really avoid the plant
entirely if we're looking to optimize
nutrition we're looking to connect with
a very medicinal plant in our ecosystem
so there are stinging hairs all
throughout the singing metal plant
mainly on the stem on the leaf petioles
and on the leaf surfaces both on the top
and the bottom depending on the species
and botanically these hairs are known as
trichomes they act like hypodermic
needles so every human being brushes up
against these hairs whenever they're
mature there's a silicon tip that breaks
off and these trichomes almost act like
hypodermic needles that pierce the skin
they pierce the skin actually inject a
chemical cocktail various compounds and
there are various neurotransmitters and
acids that are injected into the skin
neurotransmitters like acetylcholine
histamine serotonin yes that feel-good
chemical serotonin subjected into you
and it can cause an irritation various
acids like formic acid tartaric acid and
oxalic acid now there are many ways to
mitigate these things and if you harvest
a plant the right time you probably
won't get stung at all and we are going
to address all these concerns as we work
our way through the video stinging
nettle belongs to the family or to KCA
and worldwide they're about 54 gener and
over 2,600 species here in North America
we only have about six general and this
family mainly describes plants that are
herbaceous they've got simple leaves and
leaves that are opposite one another in
most cases not always we're going talk
about a look-alike that does not have
the oppositely arranged leaves but at
least in the case of stinging nettle and
many of the other plants in the family
they've got opposite leaves that are
simple here in Pennsylvania we have two
species in the genus Erica
we have stinging nettle orchid iota we
also have article urines orchid urines
is mainly found the southeastern portion
of the state that's an annual plant but
here in western Pennsylvania we really
see article dioica now what's
interesting is that there are two
subspecies of urtica dioica singing
meadow
we have subspecies dioica
which is native to Europe so it's
non-native here to the United States and
that one has chordates shapely faces so
heart shaped leaf faces the stinging
hairs are both in the top in the bottom
of the leaves the subspecies grassless
is native to the United States it does
not really have prominent cordate leaf
shaped faces it doesn't look like it's
heart shaped at the base and a stinging
hairs are mainly confined to the bottom
of the leaves so Erica do get subspecies
dioica native to europe erica dioica
subspecies grassless native to the
United States they're both stinging
nettle though they're both the same
species we can both use them in the same
exact way stinging nettle is a perennial
plant that can grow to be rather large
so when it's mature it can reach heights
of two meters which is about six and a
half feet and it can get even larger
than that now it grows in dense colonies
connected by underground rhizomes and if
you look at this specimen right here you
will see that this is the aerial portion
right here and then here is a portion of
the underground rhizome and these are
the roots that are shooting off from the
underground rhizome which is the
underground stem and this is how most of
the colonies are connected we look at
the aerial portion you'll see that the
leaves are opposite one another they're
directly across from each other almost
like a cross they're not staggered
left-right left-right they're not
alternate but they're directly opposite
one another and this is the
characteristic that is very common for
members of the air to case be a family
in the leaves are coarsely toothed so
they're serrated they're not completely
smooth around you'll see that there are
many teeth around here they're not very
fine like you might see in a birch tree
but they're more coarsely toothed all
the way around and you will see shades
of green and purple and the purple is
really prominent when the plant is young
so it's late March right now approaching
early April and you'll usually see some
of these purple tints especially on the
underside of the leaves so that's on the
top it's dark green but in the bottom if
you can see it right here
you'll see some of those purple reddish
hues now you'll typically find stinging
nettle almost anywhere in North America
usually you'll see it in sunny opening
frequently along streams creeks and in
other wet places but you also see it in
fields and farms along fence rows and in
disturbed areas like empty lot and one
of the key identifying features that I
just mentioned is that it does typically
grow in sunny opening because one of its
local likes is the wood metal
for Kia canadensis and honestly whenever
people will talk about sting metal I get
the feeling that a lot of them are
referring to wood metal Laporte dia
canadensis because that plant typically
grows in the understory it likes partial
shade or shaded areas so if you're
walking through the woods it's a shaded
area and you're getting stung by a plant
it could be the wood metal of Portilla
canadensis also that plant has
alternately arranged leaf so left right
left right all the way up the stock
doesn't have opposite leaves like you
would see in stinging nettle this one
has opposite leaves but what nettle has
ultimately arranged leaves
regardless that one is edible there's
another look-alike which is the false
metal boom area cylindrical that one
does not have stinging hairs but it
superficially resembles stinging nettles
so that one has opposite leaves as well
but does not have stinging hairs the
wood metal has stinging hairs that one
will sting you it's got a pretty potent
sting as well but that one has
alternately arranged leaves so let's
talk about the nutritional and medicinal
profile of stinging nettle thinking that
was one of the most nutritious plants
and habitats where it grows one of the
reasons that I first got introduced to
singing that owned one became obsessed
with it early on because I discovered
how nutritious this plant could be and
according to authors like Sam fair
without the stinging hairs this plant
would be obliterated by herbivores
almost immediately that's all nutritious
it is and that's why I does have these
trichomes perhaps to defend off
herbivores that know how nutritious this
plant is so nutritionally speaking this
point is very high in protein about 30
percent dry mass of the leaves
some people say up to 40% use protein so
very high in protein also minerals were
looking at non heme iron very high
source of non heme iron calcium and
magnesium carotenoids so we're talking
about the vitamins now and vitamin C one
of the richest sources of vitamin C that
we have out here in the wild about 238
milligrams of vitamin C per 100 grams of
tissue and that's pretty high let's
compare that to the orange to the orange
about 100 grams of tissue which is about
a medium size orange has about fifty
three point two milligrams of vitamin C
that's pretty good but it's not as high
as two hundred and thirty-eight
milligrams of vitamin C so that's over
four times the amount of vitamin C gram
per gram in singing that when vitamin C
is an absolutely essential nutrient that
we all need with
manufactured ourselves and one of the
easiest ways to acquire vitamin C it's
to nibble on some wild plants from time
to time including the very nutritious
stinging nettle now we're going to move
into some of the medical research on
stinging nettle and there's a lot of
research on this plant in human health
and we're only going to focus on three
particular areas of human health in this
video three particular areas that have
been heavily researched when it comes to
stinging nettle the first is benign
prostatic hyperplasia or BPH the BPH is
non cancerous enlargement of the
prostate gland this is a pretty serious
condition 50% of men by the age of 60
experience symptoms of BPH and 90% of
men by the age of 85 experience symptoms
of BPH and there are at least three if
not more double-blind randomized
placebo-controlled trials showing that
stinging nettle helps to alleviate
symptoms of BPH so this is the gold
standard when you look at double-blind
randomized placebo-controlled trials on
human participants we're not talking
about tattoos we're not talking about
rats we're talking about real living
breathing men experiencing the benefits
of stinging nettle now in these studies
and in most of the research its the
rhizome of the plant so these
underground stem structures that provide
the benefit for BPH not necessarily the
aerial portions though it may help to
some degree but if you're looking to use
is definitely looking to the rhizome
which is the underground stem you can
make effective decoction so teas you
could also make alcohol extractions as
well another area where we see stinging
nettle shine is when it comes to
allergies or allergic rhinitis seasonal
allergies and there was a double-blind
randomized placebo-controlled trial
utilizing 69 human participants showing
that a freeze-dried extract at the
aerial portions of staying metal fared
better than placebo at treating seasonal
allergies and I can attest this I've
experimented with singing their own
allergies myself in the past and I found
that it works just an alcohol extract a
simple alcohol extract of the aerial
portion - meaning the leaves and maybe
some of the above-ground stems it works
successfully in treating some seasonal
allergies not just me but it's also
worked in other people that I've talked
to and other people that I've
administered stinging nettle to
and last but certainly not least let's
briefly talk about stinging nettle in
diabetes over the years have been
various double-blind randomized
placebo-controlled trials for example
one showing that taking stinging nettle
extract was able to decrease certain
inflammatory molecules associated with
diabetes and these inflammatory
molecules would be interleukin 6 in
tumor necrosis factor another more
recent study found that ingestion of
stinging nettle was able to successfully
decrease fasting blood glucose levels
decrease to our postprandial glucose
levels and also decreased hemoglobin a1c
numbers and the most recent study from
2016 found the ingestion of stinging
nettle in women for eight weeks this was
an alcohol / water extract ingestion of
sting that was able to successfully
decrease fasting blood glucose levels
decreased triglyceride levels increase
HDL which is the good cholesterol and
also increased s OD or superoxide
dismutase activity inside of our bodies
and Sode superoxide dismutase is a group
of antioxidant enzymes that is
absolutely essential to combat excessive
oxidation inside of our bodies an
excessive oxidation is responsible for a
host of degenerative conditions so DC
singing metal is a very medicinal plant
these aren't the only studies showing
that thing that all may benefit human
health or other areas as well besides
benign prostatic hyperplasia besides
allergies besides diabetes and I
encourage you to look into them and if
any of these illnesses that I mention
are relevant to you do more research on
stinging nettle and see what this plant
may or may not be able to do for you so
now let's talk about how to properly
harvest this plant so that you do not
get stung and you're probably wondering
how I'm not getting stung right now you
know I'm handling this plant and I'm not
feeling any stinging sensation
whatsoever it's because this plant is
very very young the best time to harvest
stinging nettle so that it tastes great
so that the texture is great so that you
do not get stung is early in the season
so late winter early spring it's about a
six week window whenever this plant is
about two inches tall or less so here in
Pennsylvania that's about late March all
the way through April month late April
approaches the plants are getting much
taller and there's trichomes are
maturing and they're going to sting you
much more readily you can see the
trichomes right now if I look really
close I can see them but they're not
going to sting me because they're not
now once this plant does mature and you
know July it's August its September you
can still harvest portions of this plant
what I would recommend it to harvest the
tender top there's young growing tips
right here you can still eat those raw
but I would probably cook them you can
harvest the bigger leaves in the summer
time but they're going to be much more
mature they're going to sting you much
more readily so you might need to wear
gloves you can use scissors to snip them
off but what I like to do is harvest
those leaves in the summertime and dry
them out so that I could save them to
make teas out of them so earlier in the
season I'm usually harvesting stinging
nettle so that I could eat the plant
later on throughout the summer months
whenever the plants a little too mature
I'll harvest some of the tender tips to
eat I'll cook that up I'll steam it up
like spinach but I'll usually harvest
some of the bigger leaves and they can
get to be pretty big and I will
dehydrate those and put those in a jar
and save them for tea and I'll drink
that tea pretty much throughout winter
until the jar runs empty and it's almost
like a soup whenever you're drinking
it's more like food than it is a tea
because it's so nourishing and it's so
medicinal as well it feels really good
consuming that broth throughout the
winter months but again whenever you
harvest this plant in the springtime
it's okay to harvest it without any
gloves because you probably won't get
stung once this plant matures though
throughout the summer months you're
going to want to harvest the tender tops
or use scissors or gloves and cook this
plant later on earlier in the year
you're not going to get stung but later
in the year you definitely will then
there's a resurgence again and you know
October November when everything is
dying back and you might see some of
these plants sprout up again you might
be able to harvest plants raw without
getting stung but once the summer months
it's definitely just harvested top
portions or just cut off the leaves and
dehydrate this so that you can make a
tea out of them and cook this plant up
it basically can be substituted for
anything that you would use spinach for
so it kind of has a nice rich hearty
broth II kind of flavor - it's very hard
to describe you can't really compare to
spinach but whatever you would use
spinach for you can definitely use thing
metal for as well alright so there we
have it a lot of information on the
beautiful stinging nettle Otakon dioica
but of course only a small fraction of
everything that we could ever possibly
discuss and I encourage you to get out
there to introduce yourself to this
plant if you haven't already learn more
information on it and don't just stop
there but then personally connect with
this plant one of the best ways to
act with any plant that edible or
medicinal is to personally ingest it
make it part of your dietary strategy
and perhaps even your medicinal strategy
and if it is already a part of your
dietary medicinal strategy leave a
comment down below I'd love to hear how
it's been working for you and I've been
a big big fan of stinging nettle for
many years and I don't see myself
stopping anytime soon thanks so much for
watching this video as always I truly
appreciate it I encourage you to head on
over to learn your landcom sign up for
the email newsletter follow me on social
media subscribe to my youtube channel if
you're into that kind of thing so that
we could stay in touch I'd greatly
appreciate that thanks again I'll see
you on the next video
[Music]
you