Nettle Leaf chevre

[tina]

Made chevre yesterday and after picking a bunch of nettles today, had the idea to use some leaves as chevre wrappers. Googled it and it turns out that it's done by freezing the leaves to disable the sting. Wrapped a couple of small chunks up and used a lot more of the nettles and some of the cheese in a quiche. Buckwheat and oat flour crust, chevre, swiss, nettles, asparagus, mushrooms, and parsley in the filling. Not bad.

This batch of chevre was the first I was able to make since my source freshened their goats. The milk seems to taste quite different from late last year: less 'goaty'. The goats are nursing now, so I wondered if that changes the flavor of the milk, or possibly it's a seasonal change.

Now, if I can just stop the stinging on my hands (darn nettles!).

[DeejayDebi]

They looks very pretty. Can you wear heavy leather gloves or something when you pick theses nettles?

[tina]

Hi,

I had my heavy gardening gloves on while harvesting but there was a mesh on the top side of the gloves (to allow for evaporation?), and the stingers went thru the mesh and stung me on the knuckles. I read somewhere that baking soda, ammonia, or urine would take away the sting but I tried the first two, with no luck. Haven't tried the urine yet.... will give the baking soda another shot!

[MarkShelton]

I've heard of this before. A small dairy/cheesemaking partnership in England does this. There are pictures of the process in the World Cheese Book. When picking the nettles it shows them wearing heavy rubber gloves up to their elbows. Here is a picture of the cheese:

[DeejayDebi]

That is really pretty.

[tina]

From the Cowgirl Creamery site:http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/prodinfo.asp?number=STP

"ST PAT is our seasonal springtime cheese. These rounds are made with whole organic milk from the Chileno Valley Jersey Dairy and are wrapped with stinging nettle leaves. Do not fear the nettles, since they are frozen to remove the sting before they are wrapped around the cheese. ST PAT, with its distinctive, green rind, commemorates the arrival of spring in Marin County. After three weeks of aging, ST PAT is mellow, soft, and full of flavor. The nettle leaves impart a smoky, artichoke flavor. ST PAT received a Gold Medal at the 2009 North American Jersey Cheese Competition."

I'll wait a few days to try one of my little guys.....

[MarkShelton]

Truthfully, I'm not really the outdoors-y type, so... I don't even know what a nettle is I mean I gather that it is some kind of stinging plant, but what kind of taste does it impart? It's pretty, but I'm not sure I understand the fascination with nettles, since I've never seen them in all my culinary adventures.

[tina]

For several interesting articles on the benefits of nettles:
http://worldmysteries9.blogspot.com/2010/01/health-benefits-of-stinging-nettle.html

• (quote: Nettle leaf is among the most valuable herbal remedies. Because of its many nutrients, stinging nettle is traditionally used as a spring tonic. It is a slow-acting nutritive herb that gently cleanses the body of metabolic wastes. It is one of the safest alteratives, especially in the treatment of chronic disorders that require long-term treatment. It has a gentle, stimulating effect on the lymphatic system, enhancing the excretion of wastes through the kidneys. etc)
  

and, from here (http://wildalchemist.blogspot.com/2009/10/healing-properties-of-stinging-nettles.html):

• (quote: The benefits of stinging nettle are so many that you too will lose count. It is a diuretic....)

They're delicious just treated like spinach or used in other recipes. I happened to notice huge numbers of nettles last year in a place that I search for spring mushrooms, so in my mushrooming forays this year, I decided to pick a few of the nettles so the trip wasn't a complete waste of time. Next time I'll go back just for the nettles, to freeze for later.

They taste like spinach, but more interesting. Not at all stringy like other greens can be. And, they grow pretty much everywhere, at least in the US, (not sure about internationally....).