Spring is the perfect time of year to harvest fresh stinging nettles. Here, on Vancouver Island, we usually find ourselves gloved-up, bag-in-hand in late March or early April.
It's best to harvest young nettles before they begin flowering, as at that time they begin to create compounds that may irritate the kidneys.
Every year we make a large batch of pesto and freeze it in pre-portioned freezie bags (sponsored Amazon link*). One meal-worth per portion.
When we want to use one, we remove a baggie from the freezer, put it in a glass of warm water and within minutes it's defrosted. Cut the top off the bag and it's ready to use! We find this a much improved method over using ice cube trays to freeze cubes of sauce, which are hard to vacuum pack and eventually end up with freezer burn.
In the spring, we make nettle pesto with cashews and in the summer, we make basil pesto with pine nuts. Feel free to experiment and find what combo of herbs and nuts works best for you. We find the roasted cashews add an earthy, creaminess that compliments the fresh nettles well. If we only made one pesto per year, this would be it!
Recipe: Nettle Pesto with Roasted Cashews
This recipe makes 5 cups of finished pesto.
INGREDIENTS:
- 8 cups cooked stinging nettle leaves
- 1 3/4 cups extra virgin olive oil
- 1 2/3 cups Romano cheese, grated (Parmesan would work too)
- 1 1/2 cups cashews, roasted
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon or lime juice
- 11 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp Himalayan rock salt
DIRECTIONS:
1) Collect nettles before they flower. Wear gloves for protection and harvest fresh-looking leaves from the tops of each stem. We usually harvest only the top 6 leaves or so. We collect the tops of stalks while we're out and then pull the individual leaves off at home. This recipe uses roughly half a garbage bag-worth of fresh nettles. You can wash them by submerging them in water. Remove any stalks, but leaf stems are fine.
2) In batches, use tongs to plunge the nettle leaves into boiling water for 45-60 seconds. Remove, strain and let cool. Measure out 8 cups of cooked nettle leaves.
3) In batches, wring the 8 cups of leaves in a tea towel to remove as much excess moisture as possible. (You can save this juice for other uses.)
4) Add the nettle leaves and other ingredients to a food processor and process on high until smooth. If you want it runnier, add a little more olive oil. Add salt or Romano cheese if it's not salty enough. Add garlic if it needs more spice.
5) Use fresh or freeze. Enjoy!
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