Simple foraging!

The nettles were collected the day before, taken home and soaked. The leaves were cut off the stems and all the other ingredients taken to the site.  We used about a carrier bag worth of nettles, wearing gloves and taking care not to get stung.

1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic

1 pint (500 ml) stock (I used vegetable but the recipe says chicken)

1/4 pint (125 ml) milk

1 tbsp malt vinegar

2 heaped tbsp plain flour

Butter, salt & pepper

Wash the nettles as above in cold water with lots of salt, remove big stalks and make sure the leaves are clean and bug free!

Warm some butter in a large saucepan, peel and chop the onion and garlic – pop these in the pan and cook gently until the onion has softened.

Wearing the rubber gloves squeeze any excess water from the nettles and add them to the pan with the vinegar.  I had already cut mine up using scissors into small leaves as I can’t use a blender in the wood!

Stir well and bring the soup to the boil while you mash the plain flour and 1 tbsp butter together.

As soon as the soup has started to boil add the flour mix and stir until dissolved.  Simmer gently for about 5 mins.

This recipe is taken from “how to feed your whole family a healthy balanced diet” by Gill Holcombe and also includes nutmeg and parsley, but I had neither and it was still scrummy!

The children were all very interested and we talked about the positives of nettles – though still be careful not to touch!