Recipe: I Make This Healing Nettle Soup Every Week in Spring
Allergy relief in a bowl. 🌸
You all know by now how much I adore my acupuncturist, Helen Spieth, who has taught me so much about incorporating Chinese Medicine practices into my daily life. When I began working with her three years ago, for treatment for PMDD and gut issues, I had never been to acupuncture before, but quickly felt its benefits and the wisdom in her advice, which fundamentally shifted the way I eat and care for my body. Since taking her biannual nutrition course last spring, I’ve gotten so much more intentional about eating hyper-seasonal foods, like stinging nettles. The moment I see nettles at the farmers’ market (they popped up last week at mine!), I begin a weekly ritual of preparing this nettle soup, which, despite its short ingredient list, tastes so rich and layered, and is packed with anti-inflammatory vitamins and minerals that help, among other things, spring allergies! I’ve been trying to convince Helen to create a cookbook… but until then, she graciously agreed to share her recipe here! Enjoy and happy spring! x
Nettles are only in season March/April-May, with some variation depending on the weather. Therefore, this is obviously a Spring soup and no surprise that nettles are particularly good for the liver and the blood. They also bring a variety of other medicinal benefits including stimulating the lymph and excretion of toxins via the urine, support the detoxing function of the liver and are rich in a variety of minerals and vitamins to support this, they are an excellent blood tonic and so good for anemia and fatigue, and are especially beneficial for Spring seasonal allergies due to their antihistamine properties. — Helen Spieth
You will need:
Large pot of boiling water
2 tsp salt
1 pound stinging nettles
Cold water for rinsing nettles
1 Tbsp ghee
1 onion diced
1⁄4 cup white rice (rinsed and soaked) OR one largish yellow sweet potato peeled and cubed [I always use rice!]
4 cups chicken stock / broth (or veg broth)
Salt and pepper to taste
How to make it:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 2 tsp of salt and drop in the nettles. Cook until they soften, 2-3 minutes. This will remove most of the sting. Drain, rinse in cold water, then cut off the tough stems and roughly chop the nettles. [Save this liquid, which has many of the nutritional benefits of nettle tea; be aware it may be slightly more bitter so I sometimes add honey to taste!]
Heat the ghee in a saucepan and cook the onion until soft and translucent. Add the rice or potato, the broth and chopped nettles, bring to a boil and simmer until the rice/potato is cooked, about 15 minutes.
Puree with an immersion blender (or transfer to a regular blender) and season with salt and pepper. You could experiment with substituting some of the nettles for dandelion greens, though beware that they are a little bitter.
