Nettle is an extremely valuable herbal raw material, although at the same time very underestimated. Most people consider it a weed, but in fact it is one of the best health-promoting plants. The proof of this is the fact that our grandmothers used it very often as a way to treat various ailments. Learn how nettle works and how to make a healthy infusion from it.
Where to get nettle herb? It is best to collect or buy dried nettle herb yourself, because teas in sachets are not always of good quality. Its main properties are cleansing, detoxifying and strengthening the body. What’s more, our common stinging nettle is one of the few herbs that have blood-cleaning abilities.
Externally, in Polish folk medicine, it was used in the form of compresses for colic, paralysis, wounds, bruises and ulcers. As a medicine taken internally (as an infusion or decoction), it was used to eliminate fever, whooping cough, cramps, asthma, stomach diseases, as well as to help with difficult and complicated childbirth.
Some scientifically proven nettle properties:
- It increases the excretion of harmful substances and metabolic products from the body.
- It strengthens and nourishes the body because it is a treasury of vitamins and minerals. It contains phosphorus, iron, calcium, vitamin K, beta-carotene, sulphur, sodium, iodine, tannin, amino, organic acid and organic acid, essential oils, phytosterols and many other valuable ingredients.
- It helps with problems with the skin, hair and nails – of course after long-term use, preferably in combination with horsetail.
- It contains serotonin, which improves our mood.
- Regulates metabolism.
- It has a diuretic effect.
- It is recommended for the treatment of arthritis, diarrhea and intestinal catarrh.
- It has a hematopoietic effect, just like iron, so it will work well in the treatment of anemia.
How to prepare nettle juice and infusion?
Although you can buy ready-made nettle juice and instant teas, the home-made version will be the best.
Nettle juice:
- You can dry the leaves you collect yourself or use fresh ones. Leaves that are fresh are blended or thrown into a juicer after scalding them with boiled water.
- The resulting juice is then diluted with water, in the amount of half and half.
- We use the juice to wash the skin with diseases such as abscesses or acne, we can rinse the mouth or throat with it.
Nettle tea:
- We drink the tea 2-3 times a day between meals.
- The infusion is made from two tablespoons of dried leaves.
- Pour them with a glass of boiling water, after a few minutes, strain.