Spring is finally here in England, so I went out wild food gathering last Saturday. I do a fair amount of wild food gathering, especially greens in the spring and berries in the autumn. I do this for lots of reasons: I’m on a fairly tight budget, so free food is very welcome. Wild foods diversify the diet, adding lots of vitamins, minerals and fiber and they don’t take up space in my tiny vegetable garden, either. If you’re into eating locally-produced organic foods, wild foods fit the bill nicely. I also just love going out with bags and baskets and picking stuff to eat! It’s satisfying on a basic level – feeling a physical connection with the earth and the seasons that God created, sort of like gardening, only a bit more visceral. A tiny taste of the Garden of Eden, maybe, before the sweat of the brow came into it.
But it’s not hard to remember that the Fall happened, when you’re picking spring greens. The most important wild green that I collect is the stinging nettle, Urtica dioica. It is covered with tiny needle-like spines that deliver a good sting to bare skin, causing a few hours of mild pain and welts. I wear gloves but I usually get a bit stung anyway. Gan Eden, it’s not.
But once you cook nettles, the stings disappear. Stinging nettles are then tasty and nutritious – they have lots of iron and other nutrients. Herbalists say they are a blood cleanser and tonic. They taste a little like spinach, and can be cooked like spinach or other greens.
While I was collecting on Saturday, I was thinking about the sting of nettles and the effects of sin, particularly the sting of repentance. Sometimes our souls are too calloused to really feel sin when we commit it. Sometimes, it’s only when we repent that we feel the sting of our misdeeds. That sting, unpleasant as it may be, is healthy for us. Our conscience is awake, and we are learning to love God rather than our sins. And our repentance is transformed by God into goodness, like (a very humble metaphor) stinging nettles into nettle soup. As the great Carmelite saint Therese of Lisieux put it, “If we can serenely bear the trial of being displeasing to ourselves, then we will become for Jesus a pleasant place of shelter.”
Easy cream of nettle soup
Wear gloves when collecting nettles. Use the small plants (up to 8” high) and the tops only of larger plants. Wash and remove any tough stalks (tender stalks are fine). Don’t eat older nettles after June, when they flower, as they are then less palatable and rather laxative.
Wash 2 pints of fresh nettles; shake the water off the leaves but do not dry. Heat a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan and add the nettles, sauteing gently for about 10 minutes until wilted. Remove from the heat and chop finely or liquidise in a blender or food processor.
Now make a white sauce: Melt 2 oz butter separately in a heavy pan. Add 1 ounce flour and cook gently for about two minutes, stirring continuously. Add 1 pint hot milk, stirring carefully to prevent lumps (use a whisk if necessary) until it thickens.
Add the liquidised nettles to the white sauce and bring to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste, and thin with a little milk or water if desired.
