Nettles

Stinging nettles (brennesle / Urtica dioica) are very common in Oslo and grow in almost every park, garden, and forest. Most people here know them as a stinging weed, though they have a long history as a culinary, medicinal and cosmetic herb. 




Here are some tips for harvesting, storing, and using nettles: 

Wear gloves and use scissors when plucking nettles to help avoid their sting. Go for the young shoots without flowers. If you really wanna get into it, roots may be collected to make an extract; apparently, this is popular with bodybuilders who just love occupying their sex-hormone binding globulin. Caution is advised: this is potent stuff! When cooking or drying nettles, the stem may also be used so long as it is supple and not woody.

We first started using nettles as a fertilizer/pesticide in the garden. You basically just fill a bucket with them and cover with water, and after two weeks it's ready to use but can ferment for up to a month or so. It should then be used further diluted with water at a ratio of 1:10—take care not to use it on "thirsty" plants as this will burn them. In our experience it really does seem to increase plant yield and does keep some pests at bay.  
 
When preparing the nettles for drying or cooking, it is recommended to let them sit for at least one hour in a bowl of cool water. This simple step almost entirely removes their sting. However, beware if you are processing a large number of nettles: sometimes the rogue nettle or two will not get soaked well enough and still sting a little. Don't worry, as this will go away with cooking.  To dry them: transfer your wet mass of leaves and stems into a salad spinner or dry with paper towels. They can then be scattered over newspaper in a sunny place and will dry in approximately a day or two.

Nettles are rich in minerals, vitamins A and C; in peak season nettles can contain up to 25% protein, dry weight. The taste can be likened to spinach or chard, but without the astringency sometimes associated with these vegetables. In Norway, eating nettles is almost synonymous with nettle soup, but you could use it as you would any leafy green; in curries,with eggs, in polenta or bake it in some rolls! It's all good. It's even 'sposed to make your hair lustrous and rich. When dried they also can be used to make herbal tea. 

Infusing oil with garden herbs

It's nearing the end of the growing season here in Oslo which means it's use-it-or-lose-it for the remaining herbs in our garden. So over the last few weeks we've been infusing various oils with all sorts of things. The process itself is very simple:

1. Pick whole springs of garden herbs (or buy them at a store). As a general rule herbs are at their peak right before they flower. After they flower, they are still edible just less flavorful.

2. Wash herbs thoroughly with water and dry either on paper towels or with a salad spinner. Make sure they are completely dry.

3. Fill up a clean vessel with the dry springs and pour in a carrier oil of your choice. We mostly used rapeseed oil for its mild flavor and versatility.

4. Let your vessel sit in a sunny window for up to three weeks, letting the oil inside the herbs impart themselves into the carrier oil.

5. After your oil is the desired color and taste, carefully strain it through a fine sieve into a clean storage vessel. It should keep for at least three months kept in a cool and dry pantry.

So far we have made (left to right) mint, pumpkin flower (with a pinch of saffron), and oregano:

The oregano oil we have been using in almost any dish where fresh oregano is called for. I've also found the pumpkin flower oil is amazing when used to make popcorn. It gives the popcorn this rich, buttery taste with just a hint of the fresh blossoms. I've also been topping various homemade soups with fresh squash and pumpkin flowers (they just keep coming up) fried with garlic in the concentrated oil.

Note: both when cooking and preserving these types of blossoms in oil, remember to remove the yellow stamen / pistil and any green sepals. And while the stems are rather delicious cooked, I didn't use them when making my oil.

Bonus: you can also preserve different herbs in honey for a virtually infinite shelf life. We tried this with the mint and it was so delicious we are now making our second batch. For the honey, we only used the leaves and saved the springs for fresh mint tea.

In the window (spoils of the garden)

Dill seeds
A tiny bottle of simple homemade pseudo-cassis (fresh black currants directly in bourbon)
Lavender