Cooking with Nettle

Ah, spring, when nature wakes from its winter slumber, and the farmers markets come alive with fresh greens like spinach, sorrel, and green onions.

You probably won’t find the subject of this column at the farmers market, but it’s often available in the wild to anyone willing to search for and pick it. Believe it or not, cooking with nettle is an ancient tradition, dating back hundreds of years, and Russia is far from the only country that uses this green.

That said, the Leo Tolstoy Estate and Museum at Yasnaya Polyana organizes an Annual Nettle Festival, and its staff has collected more than a hundred recipes that use nettle, ranging from soups and baked goods to sauces and drinks.