Stinging Nettle

Urtica dioica · also: stinging nettle, ortie

note for next yearGreens🗓 Spring (tender tops before flowering)📍 1 on map (0 confirmed)

How to ID it

Opposite, toothed, heart-to-lance-shaped leaves with a pointed tip
Square stem and leaves covered in fine stinging hairs
Small greenish flower tassels dangle from leaf axils on older plants
Grows in moist, rich soil along streams, hedges and disturbed ground

Safety

Stings on contact — wear gloves and long sleeves to harvest; the hairs inject an irritant that raises a burning welt. Cooking or thorough drying completely destroys the sting, making it fully safe to eat.
Harvest tender tops before flowering; older, flowering nettle develops gritty cystoliths that can irritate the urinary tract.
Wood nettle (Laportea canadensis) is a similar edible with alternate leaves — fine to eat, but confirm your plant before eating any lookalike.

Harvest

Wear gloves. Pinch or snip the top few pairs of leaves from young, non-flowering plants in spring — the tender growing tips are the prize. Collect into a bag rather than handling loose. Once plants begin to flower, stop; the texture turns gritty and the leaves are best left.

Prep

Heat or drying kills the sting instantly. Blanch for 30–60 seconds, then use like spinach in soups, pasta, frittata, or a bright green purée; the flavour is deep and mineral. Dry the leaves for a nourishing tea. Never eat mature nettle raw.

Notes

Stinging nettle is among the finest wild cooked greens Montréal offers, thriving in the moist rich soil along the city’s ravines and riverbanks. Harvesting the tops actually encourages tender regrowth, so a well-tended patch can be picked repeatedly through spring.