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I have been nurturing a little garden of nettles but now they are almost triffid like in their growth. I think it's time to use the crop but what should I do with them .... any beer or wine recipe suggestions welcome :)

Sky wrote:I have been nurturing a little garden of nettles but now they are almost triffid like in their growth. I think it's time to use the crop but what should I do with them .... any beer or wine recipe suggestions welcome :)

Do a search on this site sky. I have done that and there are at least 40 full pages of posts with the word nettles in so you will be able to find something to do with your nettles. I would encourage you to leave a patch un touched as there are a number of rare butterflies that only lay eggs on nettles.

Yes please leave some for the caterpillars (although I don't know what species in NZ, if any, feed on nettles). You can also make nettle tea, a high nitrogen liquid fertisiler. But then you are asking about home brew so you may have no interest in other things you can do with them.

Millymollymandy wrote:Yes please leave some for the caterpillars (although I don't know what species in NZ, if any, feed on nettles). You can also make nettle tea, a high nitrogen liquid fertisiler. But then you are asking about home brew so you may have no interest in other things you can do with them.

We have had on occasion red and blue admiral butterflys - both of which eat nettles

We have red admirals but I havent heard of a blue admiral! Good to know.

Nettle wine: a recipe from "Drink your own garden" by Judith Glover - no longer in print, but a very good source of unusual garden wines

4 pints of nettle tips
3lbs sugar
2 lemons
1/2 oz root ginger
1 Camden tablet
1 gallon water
wine yeast
yeast nutrient

Place the nettle tips in 1 gallon of water and add a crushed Camden Tablet. Leave to soak for 24 hours.
Add the bruised ginger, bring it all to the boil and simmer for 15 - 20 mins.
Using a primary fermenting vessel, strain the liquid onto the sugar and stir until dissolved.
Cover and leave until comfortably warm, then add the yeast, nutrient and juice of the lemons.
cover well and leave to ferment in a warm place for five days, stirring twice daily.
Transfer to a fermenting jar, close off with an air lock and leave to ferment on. Rack the wine off the sediment when the wine begins to clear.
when all fermentation has finished and the wine cleared, bottle and store in a dark place to mature for at least 6 months.

Millymollymandy wrote:We have red admirals but I havent heard of a blue admiral! Good to know.

Sorry, having checked, i meant a blue moon. Though we get both red and yellow admirals

Hang around - should that not be a blue moth?

Mike

Nope :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypolimnas_bolina

It's beautiful.