Nettle tea has been used for millennia to assist with breathing and skin conditions, and also alleviate joint problems and arthritis. Even if you’re in excellent physical health, a mug of nettle tea can control your hormones, relaxing your mind, as well as produce a boost of important vitamins and minerals. What makes this simple tea even more amazing? You can easily create it at home!
Obviously, the 1st step in producing your very own homemade mug of nettle tea is being able to find a nettle bush. If you are unsure know what a nettle plant looks like, a brief google search gives you plenty of pictures. When dealing with Mother Nature, ensure you understand just what you might be handling. A number of plants look very close but one might be great for you whilst the other may very well be very poisonous. When doubtful, ask a professional before ingesting anything.
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When you know what you are searching for, any woods, thickets or even the side of the road are perfect locations to search for the nettle plant. It grows just like a weed, since, well, it truly is one! The most critical rule of nettle plant picking is to make sure you wear gloves and long sleeves as well as use scissors, reducing your touching the leaves as far as possible. Nettle leaves are covered with almost invisible hair-like stingers that leave an awful rash on your skin. Also, be sure to gather your nettle leaves from areas not treated with herbicides or are in contact with other chemicals (such as car exhaust right next to a busy street).
When choosing your nettle leaves pick newer plants (around spring time) and cut off the bright green tips to take home (the leaves get bitterer with age). The nettle leaves must be washed to remove all dirt and insects and then they might either be dried out for future pots of tea or used straight away fresh. To dry the nettle leaves, layer them over a paper towel and let them air dry. They could then be saved in an airtight container for future use.
There are lots of recipes out there on-line on making an excellent mug of nettle tea; nevertheless, they are subjective as some people might want to use different amounts of nettle leaves depending on how bitter they like their own tea. A standard recipe would be to take a tablespoon of dried nettles and to brew it in boiling water for about ten minutes. The leaves must be brewed for the full ten minutes in order to deactivate the stingers. Otherwise, you won’t die, however, you might get a mild stomach ache or ‘tingling’ sensation when drinking the tea (which you might get anyway, for those who have a sensitive system but this will disappear because your body gathers a tolerance for the tea). The leaves may then be drained and the tea safely taken.
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If you are looking for more of a power punch from the nettle leaves, you could make a nettle infusion, that is basically a nettle tea that’s brewed longer. A suggested recipe would be to take one ounce of nettle leaves then one quart of boiling water and to let them soak for, at minimum, a few hours, or overnight in the fridge. Be certain to continue to refrigerate the infusion so it will not spoil (if it does, it makes a superb fertilizer in your garden). The infusion could be reheated to enjoy as an extra strong tea or poured over ice or combined with fruit juice for a cool, tasty refreshment.
If you love the benefits of a mug of nettle tea, but cannot get past the taste, adding lemon, honey or simply sugar is likely to make your cup of tea much more enjoyable for you. Additionally, other herbs and plant leaves are usually blended together with the nettle leaves to make your own personal custom super tea! A popular addition for the people suffering from indigestion is rosemary, which is great for the release of bile to aid process fats. Red raspberry leaves coupled with nettle leaves can create an amazing tonic for an pregnant woman, as both help to alleviate excessive bleeding after childbirth. Try out some marvelous combos for yourself!
Further reading on nettle tea