HOME & GARDEN: No Sting in the Tail

Now's the time to don your wellies, grab a couple of carrier bags (and maybe that pair of rubber gloves) and go for a walk in your local green space. Yes, the foraging season is underway! There's free food to be had out there - there might already be wild garlic (ramsoms) coming up, Alexanders will be on their way, and there's already plenty of Jack-by-the-Hedge and young dandelions available to help you create a very cheap and delicious salad.

And don't think that foraging is just for country folks - one of the most delicious and useful plants that you can forage grows just about anywhere. On any patch of urban wasteland, as well as in country hedgerows, at this time of year, you will see clumps of stinging nettles springing into life. Nettles are a truly wonderful, versatile plant and it's really worth overcoming worries about being stung to harvest as many as you can just now. The fresh green leaves are an excellent and wholesome green vegetable, rich in vitamins A and C, iron, potassium, manganese and calcium. As well as cooking the leaves (cooking removes the sting), you can also use nettles to make a refreshing tisane (traditionally valued as a tonic), nettle cordial and nettle beer (one of the most delicious country brews). For textile enthusiasts, nettle leaves can be used to create a subtle green dye, and the fibres of the stems have traditionally been used to make textiles.

They don't exactly look wonderful (although they are a gorgeous green at this time of year), but it's also worth letting a patch of nettles flourish in your garden. They are brilliant for attracting wildlife because they are the only larval food of some types of butterfly (including the small tortoiseshell - pictured). You can harvest them for food as a cut-and-come-again vegetable and then later in the year you can add them to your compost heap (they are rich in nitrogen so make a great compost activiator) or you can make them into 'nettle tea' - a high nitrogen liquid feed for your garden.

When picking nettles for food, pick them very young, before they have flowered, because after that they develop gritty particles that can be an irritant. I find that the best way to harvest them is wearing rubber/latex gloves, and I use scissors to snip my harvest - if you pull the leaves, you can end up pull out the whole plant, which is not good. The stems are very fibrous, so avoid picking more than the top couple of leaves, otherwise you have to spend a fiddly time stripping off the leaves. It's common sense to avoid picking nettles by busy roads.

Once you have your harvest, you can make this delicious, wholesome soup.

Nettle Soup

• 40g butter or 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 1 large leek (or you can use an extra onion)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 loosely packed carrier bag full of nettle tops (don't worry too much about the quantity)
• salt and pepper
• creme fraiche or double cream (optional)

1. Put the nettles in a large bowl of water to soak off any insects or grit.
2. Whilst the nettles are soaking, chop the onion, leek and garlic very finely - you could use a food processor to do this.
3. Heat the butter or oil in a large pan over a medium heat, add the finely chopped onion, leek and garlic and cook very gently, stirring once in a while - don't allow them to colour.
4. Add the cube potato and the stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer for around 10 minutes until the potato is soft.
5. Drain the nettles and add to the pan along with a little salt and pepper.
6. Bring back to the simmer and for about 3 minutes then blend the soup until smooth.
7. Serve with a swirl of creme fraiche or double cream if you are feeling indulgent.

Then, enjoy the warm glow of satisfaction of a very cheap and delicious meal! If you want to learn more about the subject of foraging there are plenty of good books on the subject - I recommend Food for Free by Richard Mabey and River Cottage Handbook 7 - Hedgerow by John Wright.