When using nettles in the kitchen, the best advice is to wear a thick pair of gloves, and then handle them as freely as you want.
Nettles are a historic ingredient, in fact 'nettle pudding' has been officially declared Britain's oldest pudding, created round 6,000BC. The green weeds have been used for nettle beer and nettle wine through the ages, and are currently back on the menu thanks to the trend for foraging — with a simple nettle soup being an indisputably beautiful, British springtime dish.
Nettles have a verdant, spinach-like flavour, and you can almost taste the iron and minerals bursting out from the leaves. Best of all, these plants litter Britain's verges and hedgerows in early springtime, are easy to identify and free to pick.
The only barrier to enjoyment is that foragers must ensure that the leaves haven't been sprayed. This might mean cultivating your own patch in a garden, or doing some research on the upkeep of local hedgerows and woodlands. Failing that, food-safe stinging nettles can be ordered through specialist ingredient websites or directly from professional foragers.
