Nettle Tea

            If you have ever been stung by the prickly leaves of this wild herb, you may be reluctant to think of the nettle as a food. However, when dried or boiled, nettles completely lose their sting; pick them with gloves and scissors, and you will be master of the situation. Boiled, they become a spinachlike vegetable, tasty and high in vitamin A, iron, and a wide variety of minerals.

            Either the leaves or the roots of the common stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) may be used to brew tea that has valuable powers as a tonic and blood cleaner, and it is extremely effective against kidney problems. When using dry nettle leaves, note that the greener they are, the more healthful.

            A strong nettle tea, made by boiling a teaspoon of dried leaves in 2 cups water (or vinegar) for 30 minutes, is a very good hair rinse and is said to reinvigorate the hair and restore waning color. Slightly more obscure uses of nettle: beat rheumatic or paralytic limbs with nettle branches to restore vigor and circulation (this may also call for masochistic tendencies!); spin thread from nettle stems and weave table linen, as did the Scandinavians and Scottish in times of yore.

Elderberry Tea

            Although elderberry tea is the most generally used, the common elder (Sambucus Canadensis and S. nigra) also offers up as tea its bark, roots, leaves, and flowers, all of which have curative powers. Indeed, so many different remedies have been ascribed to the elder that in England, for example, it was called “the medicine chest of the country people”. An infusion of the bruised leaves is said to repel mosquitoes, gnats, and even mice. A brew made from the bark is a purgative and emetic. The berries, however, yield the most pleasing tea. They are high in vitamin C and can be used for the treatment of colds and influenza. They increase perspiration, are diuretic, and are therefore useful as a blood cleanser. Cooled elderberry tea is very soothing when applied to the eyes. The elder tree itself is steeped in legend. Old homes in England often have an elder planted nearby, for it was supposed to protect the inhabitants from witches. Judas is said to have hanged himself from an elder – the elder grows larger in Europe and the Middle East than in America – and the wood of the tree  (there are several other sylvan candidates for the role) is reputed to have been used for the cross of Christ. Think on these things as you sip your cup of elderberry late at night by the fire.