101 Uses for Stinging Nettles
by Piers Warren.
This is the second of two books that I was recently given for my Birthday, both books were cheap
and cheerful costing only £5.95 delivered with Amazon Prime.
Just to clear up any confusion this book is not a series of tutorials, there are a few recipes
and descriptions on a few things, but the onus is placed directly on the reader, if you're
interested in something it's upto you to research it further.
To be honest my first thought was thank god it's a relatively small book. Many authors have a
tendency to continue to waffle, making something that had been interesting, boring.
My second thought was "Are there really 101 uses for stinging nettles?"
Well, actually, yes there are, but you will need to look at the individual case rather than the
broader picture.
Piers Warren makes a point that using Nettles is actually an ecologically sound idea and that
traditionally Nettles have been used for at least hundreds if not thousands of years and that the
Greeks were talking about the use of nettles medicinally in AD593.
Piers does initially talk about types, harvesting and storage of Nettles, but the book has been
broken down into these main sections, garden uses, kitchen uses, medicinal uses and other uses.
At the back of the book there's a resources section.
In Garden Uses the author explains a number of roles for something we normally considered as a
weed to play, including companion plants and fertilizer.
In Kitchen Uses, he talks about the normal teas, soups, and stews, but there are other bits as
well where he talks about the use of nettles as a substitute for rennet when making cheese amongst
other things.
Medicinal uses covers the differences between teas, infusions and decoctions and tintures with
some historical uses and modern uses for nettles as a medication (there is naturally a
disclaimer in this section). I found this section actually quite an interesting read and it has given
me plenty to research in the new year.
The last section has descriptions of cordage making and making of cloth and then it's tradional usage,
it even covers the kinky usage by the Victorians at the end (they were a funny old lot).
All in all this was a nice little read, it won't take forever to get through as even with my housemate
waffling for half an hour continuous I still managed to read the whole book and write this in a total of 2
hours and 30 minutes.
ISBN 978-0954189990
by Piers Warren.
This is the second of two books that I was recently given for my Birthday, both books were cheap
and cheerful costing only £5.95 delivered with Amazon Prime.
Just to clear up any confusion this book is not a series of tutorials, there are a few recipes
and descriptions on a few things, but the onus is placed directly on the reader, if you're
interested in something it's upto you to research it further.
To be honest my first thought was thank god it's a relatively small book. Many authors have a
tendency to continue to waffle, making something that had been interesting, boring.
My second thought was "Are there really 101 uses for stinging nettles?"
Well, actually, yes there are, but you will need to look at the individual case rather than the
broader picture.
Piers Warren makes a point that using Nettles is actually an ecologically sound idea and that
traditionally Nettles have been used for at least hundreds if not thousands of years and that the
Greeks were talking about the use of nettles medicinally in AD593.
Piers does initially talk about types, harvesting and storage of Nettles, but the book has been
broken down into these main sections, garden uses, kitchen uses, medicinal uses and other uses.
At the back of the book there's a resources section.
In Garden Uses the author explains a number of roles for something we normally considered as a
weed to play, including companion plants and fertilizer.
In Kitchen Uses, he talks about the normal teas, soups, and stews, but there are other bits as
well where he talks about the use of nettles as a substitute for rennet when making cheese amongst
other things.
Medicinal uses covers the differences between teas, infusions and decoctions and tintures with
some historical uses and modern uses for nettles as a medication (there is naturally a
disclaimer in this section). I found this section actually quite an interesting read and it has given
me plenty to research in the new year.
The last section has descriptions of cordage making and making of cloth and then it's tradional usage,
it even covers the kinky usage by the Victorians at the end (they were a funny old lot).
All in all this was a nice little read, it won't take forever to get through as even with my housemate
waffling for half an hour continuous I still managed to read the whole book and write this in a total of 2
hours and 30 minutes.
ISBN 978-0954189990
