Papaya - a world class meat tenderizer, natural digestive aid, prevents ulcers, and also a soft contact lense cleaner.Nettle The Safety Factor
This herb’s sting is its major problem. If you harvest it, wear strong gloves, a long-sleeved shirt, and long pants.
Herbal folklore is filled with remedies for nettle stings. An age-old recommendation is to rub the affected area with nettle juice. Rubbing with other herbs-rosemary, sage, or mint-also reputedly helps. But the most famous nettle remedy is dock, immortalized in this old British rhyme: “Nettle in, dock out/Dock rub, nettle out.” Nonherbal treatments for nettle stings include washing with soap and water, topical hydrocortisone creams (Cort-Aid). and oral antihistamines.
Large doses of nettle tea may cause stomach irritation, burning skin, and urinary suppression.
Some diet programs tout diuretics to eliminate water weight. But weight-control authorities discourage diuretics. Weight lost using diuretics almost invariably returns. The key to permanent weight control is a low-fat, high-fiber diet and regular aerobic exercise.
Nettle stimulates uterine contractions in rabbits. Pregnant women should not use it internally.
Other Cautions
The Food and Drug Administration considers nettle an herb of “undefined safety” For otherwise healthy non-pregnant, non-nursing adults who are not taking other diuretics, nettle is considered relatively safe in amounts typically recommended.
Nettle should be used in medicinal amounts only in consultation with your doctor. If nettle causes minor discomforts, such as stomach upset or diarrhea, use less or stop using it. Let your doctor know if you experience unpleasant effects or if the symptoms for which the herb is being used do not improve significantly in two weeks.
Plants That Burn
Stinging nettle is only one of 500 species of Urtica, a name derived from the Latin uro, to burn. And burn they do. Just be thankful the Javanese species, U. urentissima, doesn’t grow in North America. Its burn is reputed to last a year.
Nettle’s erect stem grows from a creeping underground rhizome. It has opposite, serrated, dark green, heart-shaped leaves, and male and female flowers grow on separate plants (dioecious). The hairs that give this herb a downy appearance are actually hollow needles attached to sacs filled with irritant chemicals. Brushing against the plant bends the hairs, squeezing the irritants onto the skin of the hapless passerby.
Nettles grow very easily from seeds or root divisions in just about any soil. Plant seeds in spring. Take root divisions in autumn after the leaves have died back.
Harvest the leaves (wearing gloves and protective clothing) before the plants flower in late spring or early summer Young leaves may be boiled or steamed like spinach and eaten as a vegetable. Boiling or drying eliminates the sting. The fresh tender shoots do not sting and may be used in salads.
Nettles have a reputation for increasing the aromatic oil content of angelica, marjoram, oregano, peppermint, sage, valerian, and other fragrant herbs. Nettles also reputedly help decomposition in compost.