Nettle Mania

"out of this nettle, danger, we grasp this flower, safety"

-Shakespeare, Henry IV, part 1, Act II Scene 3

Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) are a common weed with a bad reputation--the plant has tiny spines that inject, as Wikipedia puts it, a "cocktail of poisons." Miraculously when you boil the plant the spines lose their punch and you're left with a tasty green consumed plain or incorporated in a number of dishes, from soups to ravioli, to the German cheese pictured above (thanks to Berlin corespondent Steve Rowell for the photo). When dried, the leaves make a damn good tea, with a rich, indescribable flavor. If that ain't enough, nettles pack a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals, and are perhaps the vegetable with the highest protein content (10%).

At the risk of contradicting yesterday's anti-media screed (After all, Marshall McLuhan once said, "If you don't like that idea I've got others."), we'll end with some links to an obscure sub-genre of youtube videos, nettle torture stunts. Mrs. Homegrown could drone on about the psycho-sexual implications of these clips, but that would be fodder for another blog. In the meantime, thanks again to Steve Rowell, here's some nettling to fill your evening hours: here, here and here (just three of what may be hundreds).