My Alaska Life

These are stinging nettles growing by the creek. They are some of the first wild plants to pop up. When young like this they are very nutritious. It’s weird because you wouldn’t think they would be edible. They have little hairlike stingers all over them and when you touch those stingers it can burn for 24 hours. I have a lot growing in the raspberry patch and by the end of the summer when I go to pick raspberries they are very tall and I get stung by them all the time. They can be very bothersome. They are only edible for a short time while young. Once they flower you cannot eat them as they get toxic. But at this stage, before they flower they are safe . Strangely, once you cook them the stingers disappear. I made them for dinner tonight sauteed in butter in a frying pan with a little salt.