In my early days as an herbalist, I fell in love with nettle for its incredible nutritive properties. At the time, I lived near wooded walking trails and was excited to find nettle growing along the paths. Often, when I was out foraging in the spring, people would stop and ask, “Why are you collecting that?!” To them, nettle was just a nuisance. But what they didn’t realize is that this plant has tons of beneficial properties.

Though nettle’s sting might make some people wary, the plant has been used in folk medicine for centuries. Herbalists cherish nettle for its many different uses as both food and medicine. One way to work with nettle is as a concentrated herbal extract, or tincture. While alcohol tinctures don’t extract nettle’s minerals and nutritive compounds, they do capture many of nettle’s other beneficial constituents, making this preparation a valuable addition to your apothecary.