28th August 2020

 

In 1979, my elder son, then 11, took part in Ilkley’s millennium celebrations.

In fact there have been humans living in that area since the Mesolithic period (11,000BC onwards) but the festival was geared to teaching children about the town's Roman history. 

This included making armour from silver cardboard, learning what the soldier’s days were like and eating fairly authentic Roman food. Fortunately they didn’t carry out the ritual of decimation if anyone was naughty.

 My son loved the food and was keen to make it when we got home, although even he drew the line at roasted Dormouse.

In those days, Bradford was not, as it is today, known for its adventurous cuisine.

 If you wanted a curry (and according to my parents, the only people who did, were beatniks and dangerous anarchists) you daringly nipped down the Co-op for a packet of Vesta.  Their curries were a truly revolting mix of Textured Vegetable Protein, curry powder and raisins.

 I was no stranger to food from the hedgerows; my Auntie Minnie  taught me how to recognise and use Wild Garlic (Ramsons), Sorrel, peppery Dandelion leaves and Watercress as well as many edible flowers and berries. 

So first on our Roman table was Nettle Soup.

If you’d like to try this, I’ve revised it a little because in 1979 I had no blender; the nettles were pushed through a hair sieve.

Stinging Nettle

 

Using gloves (try Marigolds. Auntie Minnie also taught me how to grasp them so they didn't sting) pick the young tops of Stinging Nettles from a source which is not visited by dogs or cats. 

It’s like spinach in that the leaves boil down, so even for one helping you need a lot. Wash it well.

Nettles are versatile and can be used in a variety of ways.

 Saute a chopped onion in a little butter, add a garlic clove, or if you’re really keen and would like to gather wild Ramsons, this is what the plant looks like, though you'll know it by its smell.  You can use leaves, stems and flowers, chopped.

 

Add enough stock, vegetable or chicken, for the number of people you are serving, then the chopped nettles, leaves only, stems can be tough, 2 bay leaves, salt & pepper to taste. 

Romans added barley too, so if you have pearl barley in the pantry, a handful of that will thicken the soup.  

There a many Nettle Soup recipes and some include beans, chopped mint, honey, black peppercorns and other spices.  

As Romans ate meats,  you could certainly add chicken, lamb, rabbit or beef to the soup.  Your choice.   Blend until smooth.

 Chopped young nettle leaves can also be sautéed then added to omelettes or fried in pancakes, or even blended in smoothies.

 

Nettle Soup

Roman soldiers, frequently afflicted with arthritic joints in Britain’s cold, damp climate, used to apply Stinging Nettles to painful joints, presumably on the assumption that this intense pain took their minds off the arthritis.

The sting contains formic acid (as do ants) and a histamine; this causes the stinging sensation.   Dock leaves contain an anti-histamine, which is why, if you’re stung, they soothe the skin.

Nettle sting

You can make a tea from the leaves to get the same anti-inflammatory benefits but I suspect the soldiers were too macho for this and competed with one another to see how much pain they could stand.

'I'm a 6 nettle man, Legate.' 

  If you’d like to make the oldest recipe ever known, thought to be from 6000 BC, try Nettle Pudding. It is essentially the Nettle Soup recipe but with a lot more barley or barley flour, simmered (like a risotto) until it’s puddingy and blended. Yum.

 

Netle Pudding

Thanks (I think) to the University of Wales archaeology department who discovered this, although I wonder if they also tasted it?