Calories in stinging nettles

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RUNucbar
RUNucbar Posts: 160 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It is spring and I'm British so it's nettle eating time!! My garden is rather full of stinging nettles right now and I like free food but cannot for the life of me figure out the calorie content.

In terms of cooking and taste the comparison most people make is to spinich but I don't want to log nettles as spinich if it really inaccurate.

Anyone know or can thnk of a place to find out?

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  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
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    https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/8432?manu=&fgcd=&ds=

    Lists them at 42 calories per 100 g (cooked weight). So, roughly double the calories of cooked spinach.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
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    The first thing I always try is to use Google to search for "name of food nutrition" to see what I get.

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  • Madwife2009
    Madwife2009 Posts: 1,369 Member
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    There are entries in the database for it :)

    I do applaud your willingness to eat them though. Free food is great (I'm more of an "autumn = free food" type of person)

    I don't regard Spring as nettle-eating time, purely because the plant reminds me of very bad, poverty-stricken times as a child :( But that was a long time ago. And we (my family) survived.

    Enjoy your free food :)
  • embrcy
    embrcy Posts: 1 Member
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    45 per 100g
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    http://www.livestrong.com/article/350785-stinging-nettles-nutrition/
  • Hoshiko
    Hoshiko Posts: 179 Member
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    I can't help you with the nutrition but I looked them up on wiki and found this:
    In the UK, an annual World Nettle Eating Championship draws thousands of people to Dorset, where competitors attempt to eat as much of the raw plant as possible. Competitors are given 60 cm (24 in) stalks of the plant, from which they strip the leaves and eat them. Whoever strips and eats the most stinging nettle leaves in a fixed time is the winner. The competition dates back to 1986, when two neighbouring farmers attempted to settle a dispute about which had the worst infestation of nettles.

    The UK is great :D
  • RUNucbar
    RUNucbar Posts: 160 Member
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    Madwife2009 wrote: »
    There are entries in the database for it :)

    I do applaud your willingness to eat them though. Free food is great (I'm more of an "autumn = free food" type of person)

    I don't regard Spring as nettle-eating time, purely because the plant reminds me of very bad, poverty-stricken times as a child :( But that was a long time ago. And we (my family) survived.

    Enjoy your free food :)

    I'm that person at the side of the road with a tupperware box picking blackberries. I'm a skint student, they are free. Why not?
  • eok902
    eok902 Posts: 56 Member
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    The dried leaves make a brilliant restorative tea. I love 'em.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    Hoshiko wrote: »
    I can't help you with the nutrition but I looked them up on wiki and found this:
    In the UK, an annual World Nettle Eating Championship draws thousands of people to Dorset, where competitors attempt to eat as much of the raw plant as possible. Competitors are given 60 cm (24 in) stalks of the plant, from which they strip the leaves and eat them. Whoever strips and eats the most stinging nettle leaves in a fixed time is the winner. The competition dates back to 1986, when two neighbouring farmers attempted to settle a dispute about which had the worst infestation of nettles.

    The UK is great :D

    Good heavens. Stinging nettles are EVIL au naturel. Worst nightmare as a kid either falling, being pushed, or accidentally running into a thicket of nettles. Just the worst. Eating them in that state, makes me feel a little queasy.

    We had a giant blackberry bush in my front garden as a kid. Was our grab and go snack when playing outside. We also had rhubarb and strawberries just chillin'. I think we might have had potatoes too. Everyone seems to have formal gardens now and very little of the wild spots that are great for these sorts of things just cropping up naturally every season.
  • FernRunner
    FernRunner Posts: 79 Member
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    They look like a great source of fiber, at least.

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