Plants eh?

[Luddite]

[Steve J]

  Very good and really rather true.

[d_Guy]

 
interesting hypothesis and would explain tobacco and nightshade. However if they are trying to keep us fat and happy why bother with poison ivy or stinging nettles for that matter?

[O Dinas Powys]

interesting hypothesis and would explain tobacco and nightshade. However if they are trying to keep us fat and happy why bother with poison ivy or stinging nettles for that matter?

You can eat stinging nettles   

[Heedless Horseman]

interesting hypothesis and would explain tobacco and nightshade. However if they are trying to keep us fat and happy why bother with poison ivy or stinging nettles for that matter?

They've had a lot of time to perfect education policy.
And all those 'Hippy Chick' tree huggers...Gimmee some compost!!!   

[d_Guy]

You can eat stinging nettles   

When you get down to it you can eat poison ivy! 
I heard once that over the course of several years a man ate an entire 1957 Chevrolet.

Actual that's  cool about nettles - knew you could use them for dye. Wonder who the first person was who gave it a go? 

[Techno]

Knew there was something about plants that I didn't trust. 

Cheers - Phil

[Ithoriel]

NETTLE SOUP

Ingredients

    1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
    1 onion, chopped
    1 carrot, diced
    1 leek, washed and finely sliced
    1 large floury potato (Maris Piper or similar), thinly sliced
    1l vegetable stock
    400g washed stinging or dead nettles leaves, picked
    50g butter, diced
    50ml double cream

Method

    Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, leek and potato, and cook for 10 mins until the vegetables start to soften. Add the stock and cook for a further 10-15 mins until the potato is soft.

    Add the nettle leaves, simmer for 1 min to wilt, then blend the soup. Season to taste, then stir in the butter and cream. Serve the soup drizzled with extra oil and scattered with dead nettle flowers, if you have them.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Me - I'll stick to a meat only diet, seems safer.

IanS

[Heedless Horseman]

When I was a LOT younger, I got Ma to cook up some 'Nettle Water'. Granda had reckoned it was good for boils...so must be good for spots, right? After 3 litres of the disgusting muck I went back to beer cos' it made me FEEL better!.   

[toxicpixie]

Nettle soup is nice, but nettle pesto is awesome!