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Nettle and hazelnut pesto

The nettle stings while alive, and nourishes as soon as it is crushed. Married with hazelnuts and garlic, it becomes a green cream concentrated in iron and minerals.

The nettle is one of the most nutrient-rich wild plants in Europe: iron (up to 17-40 mg / 100 g of dry plant depending on the source, i.e. more than spinach), calcium, magnesium, vitamins A, C, K, protein (up to 25% dry). Harvested young (spring) and blended raw with oil and an acid, it loses its sting and releases its minerals. Nettle pesto is a pillar of folk herbalism for late-winter fatigue.

Ingredients

  • Fresh nettle

    harvest with gloves in spring, taking the top 4 leaves

    200 g of young shoots (about 1 large bowl)
  • Hazelnuts

    soaked beforehand for 4 h in water then drained

    80 g
  • 1 to 2 peeled cloves
  • 150 ml
  • Fresh lemon juice

    optional but improves iron absorption

    1 tablespoon
  • Sea salt
    1/2 teaspoon

Equipment

  • •1 powerful blender or food processor
  • •Gloves for harvesting
  • •1 glass jar for storage

Steps

  1. 1

    Harvest and rinse

    Harvest the young nettle shoots in spring (April-June), with gloves. Choose plants far from roads and treated fields. Rinse in cold water in a large colander (always with gloves).

    20 min

  2. 2

    Neutralise the stinging hairs

    Gentle method: roll the leaves in a clean cloth and rub vigorously for 1 minute, the stinging hairs break. (No need to blanch: the final blending will neutralise them completely.)

    2 min

  3. 3

    Blend

    In the blender bowl, put the drained hazelnuts, the garlic, the salt. Pulse to a coarse crumb. Add the nettle leaves, the lemon, then pour in the olive oil in a stream while the motor runs. Continue until a creamy but grainy texture.

    5 min

  4. 4

    Taste and adjust

    Taste: add salt, lemon or oil to your liking. The texture should be generous, deep green, almost glossy.

Storage

1 week in the fridge, covered with a film of olive oil on the surface (air contact = rapid oxidation). Freezing possible in portions (ice-cube tray) for 6 months.

How to use it

1 to 2 tablespoons on bread, on pasta (hot or warm, don't mix in when too hot, to preserve the enzymes), in a potato salad, or as a dip with sticks of raw vegetables.

Health properties

  • Nettle iron: non-heme iron, so of moderate bioavailability; the vitamin C of the lemon helps its absorption
  • General remineraliser: calcium, magnesium, silica, manganese
  • A traditional anti-anaemic, useful at the end of winter or after exertion
  • The hazelnuts add omega-9, vitamin E and magnesium
  • The raw olive oil brings its antioxidant polyphenols

These preparations belong to cooking and herbal tradition: they nourish and support, do not “cure” anything and replace no treatment. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before prolonged use, if under treatment, pregnant or breastfeeding, or for a child. Follow the stated storage precautions strictly.

Precautions

Harvest only in unpolluted areas (far from roads, conventionally farmed fields, treated parks). Nettle absorbs heavy metals and nitrates. Check for the absence of a hazelnut allergy (a common allergen). People on diuretics or with kidney failure: nettle is itself a diuretic, seek medical advice for a prolonged course.

Sources & tradition

  • · Maurice Mességué, Mon herbier de santé
  • · François Couplan, Le régal végétal, Wild edible plants
  • · INRAE studies on the composition of Urtica dioica
  • · Regulation (EU) No 432/2012, authorised claim «Vitamin C increases iron absorption» (EFSA opinion on non-heme iron)

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