Nettle tea and other delights
 

Wow you make nettle pita in Serbia also? So nice!!! http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png

Dear Nina,

I don't have a lot of ouzo in my house but I have a lot of metaxa....so you must come.;-) I want, I want, I want so much to go to Serbia http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png thank you dear Dova!

Alas I do not drink ouzo & metaxa, but nice Serbian water will do perfect http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png Thank you.

Nina, when gathering nettles you have to be sure that the place they are growing is clean. I used to gather them from a neighbour's house. She hated gardening so had a good crop of nettles each year instead of flowers. I tried to grow them from seeds but was unsuccessful. Then lo, and behold a single nettle plant started growing by itself. I threatened my husband with whatever I could think of if he uprooted it. He considered it a noxious weed (still does). I now have a small patch from which I harvest the leaves - the stems are too tough to be eaten. They are absolutely clean because our little dog is content to stay in his area and the garden is enclosed. You need to wear gloves to pick the leaves though, and yes, I have read that they are good for arthritis. I don't have a sauna but would really love to build one....................... After boiling nettles lose their sting.

We have a really good health store here that sells whatever you can imagine (it opened after the Russian Pontios' started arriving) and if the shopowner doesn't have what you want she orders it for you.

Nettles are one of the wonder foods that God provided for us to keep us healthy and they taste good as well.

Effie

Christina, Roman Catholic nuns in England traditionally make a nettle soup once a year on a certain day.

As Daniel says, you need to wear gloves to pick the leaves (or get your husband to do it!!!).

Effie

I think that people who live in the same area usually have a few common foods and customs.
I like watching documentaries (the 3 public TV stations are generous with these for which I thank them) and am always amazed when I see something that is similar to what I experience here.

I don't drink except for a sip or two of our own wine, but I'm not fond of either ouzo or Metaxas brandy. I do love the aroma of our tsipouro though. Of course, instead of drinking it, I use it for massages. We are now told that the grape skins that are used to make tsipouro/raki are very, very healthy.

Effie

Your enthusiasm for nettle got me curious, so I looked up the health benefits. Did you know that it's a natural anti-histamine? I just ordered 2 bottles of nettle pills from Amazon to try on my seasonal hayfever. If it works, I'm sure it's healthier (and cheaper) than the synthetic anti-histamines I use. The reviews at Amazon are all 5-star, with people saying it works great for hayfever.

Also I found a place where I could order 1 pound of dry organic leaves for $20 (I didn't order any yet). What would someone do with the dry leaves? Can you add them to rice and other simple dishes like that? What does it taste like?

I don't have a husband, otherwise I would definitely send him to pull my nettle! http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png I would never try to grow it purposefully because I'd be afraid of it spreading. When I'm picking weeds in my garden there'll always be a nettle hiding somewhere, and I always get stung. Sometimes I wear gloves (if I see there's a lot of visible nettle), but usually I don't.

Have you ever heard of "Blita"? I would guess it's spelled like βλήτα in Greek. I started growing some last year, and it's pretty good, but I have been trying to find out for a long time what the English word is for that plant so that I can research it. I try to ask the Greeks at Church what the English word for "blita" is, and they're always like: "Blita? Blita is blita! There's no English word." But I don't believe them because their English is horrible! http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png

Effie, I got to admit that I use those sometime in cooking. After Lent try some kadaifi/baklava with vanilla ice cream and some metaxa (very good thicker version of it) over and it is so delicious. Also you can add some walnut preserve over. http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png


Of course, instead of drinking it, I use it for massages. Yes my grandmas used that for massage after cupping and just simple massage! They mixed raki with very good olive oil and crushed an aspirin in it. After massage they tucked and covered you very well and it was before bedtime they massaged so the opened pores would not get draft of cool air in they would say. And the next morning you would wake up renewed.

Christina, dry nettle leaves are used as a tea.
During the German occupation when these cruel people stole anything and everything they could lay their hands on including food, lots of people starved to death in Athens. It is said that nettles saved a lot of lives because the women would go into the countryside and pick the nettles along the roadside and then make them into a type of stew.

Christina blita are similar to great plantain.

Their English name is blite. I just looked this up in Google images but the pictures I found don't look much like what we have here. It does flower - if you can call it that - but the flowers are greenish not red. Perhaps we have a another variety here.

I know that women used to pick these and use them in pittes and perhaps they still do in the villages. In towns women now use spinach which is full of chemicals.

When we first started our garden I used to spend quite a lot of my time uprooting purslane (glistrida) until a neighbour who is from a village told me that it is used in salads. I looked it up on the Internet and it is another of God's wonder foods. It is full of goodness and nutrients and I use it often. I tried pickling it but that was a complete disaster.

I bought two blueberry bushes a couple of weeks ago. They came from Holland and I am optimistic that they will prosper here. Blueberries don't grow here although there is a wild berry that is similar. Our priest's wife gave me a bottle of liquer made with cranberries and this wild blue berry. Unfortunately I can't remember it's name.

Effie

I use a lot of my husband's wine when I cook!!! Last year's wine has a rather special flavour ........................ vinegary.... but don't tell him that!

I didn't know that you can mix tsipouro/raki with olive oil and an aspirin. Have to try it next time. We get our olive oil from the Peloponesse from friends. It is pure so we are very lucky.

Effie

Effie, thanks for telling me about "blite"! I tried to look up the word, but it looks like there are a few different plants that are called blite, so I'll have to try to narrow it down.
Here the greenish ones grow wild, but some ladies gave me some seeds from Greece for the red variety last year, and they say the red ones are much better.
We have a ton of purslane here, too. It's one of my more annoying weeds... but I didn't know it was edible! I might have to try it sometime, but I'm guessing I'd be too afraid to try it on my own. Next time the Greeks are visiting I might ask them to show me how to use "glistrida".

The wiki page on purslane has a picture of a Greek salad! look at this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...reek_salad.JPG

Here the worst weed is Canadian Thistle, which is the worst one to uproot, and also it's full of thorns. I think the Greek word for that is "Adragathia", or something like that. Did you know that thistles are also very therapeutic? It's funny how the most obnoxious weeds are so therapeutic... how did anyone ever think to try eating them??

I have some blueberry bushes, but they are very difficult to keep happy. They need an EXTREMELY acidic soil! It's annoying to try to keep the soil acidic enough. But it's amazing how many fruits they produce!

Possibly 'pigweed' - a species of Amaranthus or Albersia.

Best not to eat or otherwise use any plant (or fungus - e.g. mushroom) unless you know exactly what it is!

LOL! Thanks for the advice, dear doctor! http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png I completely agree with you. I only try new things when the Greek ladies are visiting me and urging me to try them. I trust them a lot, because they have lived through hard times where the only food they had to eat was whatever was growing wild near their homes. I personally would never try anything new on my own, because I know it can be dangerous. Especially not 'shrooms! http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png

Okay, I finally found what "vlita" is, using both Dr. Brian's and Effie's help. "Pigweed" and "Blite" are both the same thing, but the problem is that they are not specific enough, and can be used to refer to 3 different plant families. But the correct family was "amaranth", and the wiki page for amaranth gave the final answer:
In Greece, Green Amaranth (Amaranthus viridis) is a popular dish and is called vlita or vleeta. It's boiled, then served with olive oil and lemon like a salad, usually alongside fried fish. Greeks stop harvesting the (usually wild-grown) plant when it starts to bloom at the end of August. Sweeeeet! Thanks for the help! http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png Now I can finally look up the health benefits and nutritional info on that plant. I was always curious because I eat it a lot when it's growing season.

Can you show a picture of the nettle you are talking about? Down here, we have the Bull Nettle. You brush up against your leg or arm and you will feel on fire for hours. I can't see how you can drink this as a tea. Cattle and horses give this stuff a wide berth it stings so bad.

Paul

This is something that I agree with. Always, always use plants that you know and don't experiment with unknown plants. Some plants look alike but the effect on the body is different. Some are poisonous. It is always a good idea to check even the greens that you buy. A couple of years ago a lot of people were poisoned after buying and eating greens that had a poisonous plant mixed in with them.

The purslane I started using because my neighbour told me about it - she's very knowledgeable about all types of plants - and I also looked it up on the Internet. Most of my herbs I have bought but others like my nettles and my camomile I have grown from the wild varieties. The nettles just grow by themselves but I need to carefully find the young camomile plants (from seeds that have fallen from the previous year) and then transplant them so that I can obtain a better crop of flowers.

My husband found a special plant for diabetes that only grows here in North Greece and I have planted some of it. (It is sold in health shops in Thessaloniki). I need to find some more plants and plant them because this particular plant doesn't multiply. St. John's Wort is another wild plant that I use (olive oil and St. John's Wort are very good for bruises etc.). In Germany doctors prescribe it for mild depression. I have tried to grow it but without success so I gather it each year from an area that I have found. It flowers in mid-May.


The herbs you grow and use have nothing whatsoever in common with those sold in shops. I believe that these have been in the shops or warehouses for years. Each year you are supposed to replenish your supply of herbs but even after two or three years the aromas are wonderful - as I said nothing like those sold in shops.

I make a wonderful wardrobe mixture. Dried lavender, dried rosemary, dried lemon peel (biological), clove powder, cinnamon powder (optional). When it is ready I give sachets of this to my friends and relatives. They all love it and keep asking me for more.

Effie

I looked up pigweed on Google images. That does look like the plant we have here. I have never used them but my husband told me that they need to be picked when they are small and tender. Small bunches of them are also sold in the market.

Effie

Paul you can see a picture of the nettle plant here http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgu...1t:429,r:3,s:0


The nettle in the picture has flowered. I pick them now when they are tender and before they flower. The plants are about 6 inches high now. I cut them off near the ground and then use just the leaves. The good thing about nettles is that they just keep on growing, so if you're lucky you can keep harvesting until late summer. The dried leaves shrink to nothing and you need a handful when making a tisane. It's best not to let them grow too high because then all they are good for is to be used as a herbicide or cut into tiny pieces in the shredding machine and spread over the garden.

Nettles don't sting when they have been dried and then boiled.

Effie

Paul, I found this on the link you posted.

"Competitive eatingIn the UK, an annual Stinging Nettle Eating Championship draws thousands of people to Dorset, where competitors attempt to eat as much of the raw plant as possible. Competitors are given 60 cm (20 in) stalks of the plant, from which they strip the leaves and eat them. Whoever strips and eats the most stinging nettle leaves in a fixed time is the winner. The competition dates back to 1986, when two neighbouring farmers attempted to settle a dispute about which had the worst infestation of nettles.[17][18]

What happens to their throats and esophagus'???????

Thanks Christina. That's nice to know. It's good that Dr. Brian Rowlands mentioned pigweed because I had another image in my mind that was completely incorrect. There are so many greens that have been used by women for thousands of years that we all become somewhat confused. I'm looking forward to the publication of the university studies being conducted on the various plants used in salads in Crete. Crete is famous for the long lives enjoyed by its inhabitants which are thought to be the result of the Cretan diet.

effie

Yep, it's the same thing, only we never call it "Bull" nettle. Do you guys always name everything after the livestock down there? http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png
I ordered some nettle tea which should be arriving next week. I am curious how it will taste.
That's actually my biggest problem with them! http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png

Effie, I recently finished reading a book called "The Jungle Effect: Healthiest Diets from Around the World" that Andra K. recommended to me. In that book she goes around and learns what the healthiest cultures are eating. One of the places she went to was Crete.

I thought it was hilarious when she was describing her experience with the Greeks! http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png I don't think she meant it to be funny, I just found it humorous. For example, when she first arrived, she started asking everybody if they know where "George" is. It took her a while before she figured out that half of the Greek men on the island were named "George"! LOL! http://www.monachos.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.png

Another funny story from that book is when she's visiting an olive-oil company. The head-Greek at the company seemed to be the louder, rougher type. He was explaining with a loud voice: "Yeah, some people they come to me and they say: 'Your olive oil is the best! It has subtle undertones of chocolate flavors.' or sometimes they say: 'Your olive oil is the best! It has fruity undertones.' or sometimes they say: 'Your oil is the best. It tastes like wild greens picked from the hillside.' I look at them and I tell them: "This is bull****! Just shut-up and taste the oil!" LOL!!! I thought that was hilarious when I read it. It reminds me of some Greeks that I know.

Her description of the healthy Cretan diet was very standard: lots of veggies, olive oil, lemon, wold greens (horta), whole grains, low meat, lots of fish, etc. Of course they do more manual labor there, too.