Rebuild from Depression Blog

I made passing mention of this tea idea in my ebook on iron-rich foods. Nettle tea is a traditional remedy for low iron levels but it is interesting that nettle is also fairly high in tannins which bind iron. My thought was that if we could ferment the nettle tea we might have the gold standard in plant-based iron boosters.

It took my own iron levels to take a little dip to inspire me to try the concoction.

I dragged my father and son to an area creek to harvest nettles and discovered that someone else in the area is into nettle tea as well. I managed a small bundle and brought them to boil in about a gallon of water. I let them steep until the next morning.

In the meanwhile, I was making my other water kefir concoctions and just saved a couple of cups of the inoculated sugar water to add to the nettle tea. (See this post about water kefir drinks. Instead of adding fruit juice, I add the nettle tea.)

I let the tea ferment on the countertop, covered in a dishtowel for a couple of days. After those couple of days, I put the jar in the refrigerator to stop the fermentation. (It could get very sour if allowed to sit out but it's all a matter of taste.)

Although nettle tea is a very boring drink, I found myself wanting more and more of this tea. I felt a bit of an energy boost.

If you ferment drinks, give this a try and post here about your experience. In the meantime, I realize that I need to go harvest some more nettles.