Welcome to the Wild Foods Guide Page for: Red Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)

Wild Food Guide For: Red Deadnettle



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Mushrooms and Fungi

Red Deadnettle


This is the description page for Red Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) and includes a description as well as an image, if available and a selection of recipes from this site that relates to the wild foodstuff: Red Deadnettle.

Red Deadnettle

Red Deadnettle, Lamium purpureum is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Lamiaceae (mint) family. It is native throughout Europe and western Asia, growing in a variety of habitats from open grassland to woodland, generally on moist, fertile soils. In the correct conditions this plant can grow to 30cm tall and has green to reddish cubic stems that bear broad, triangular, softly hairy leaves with a rounded base and a serrated margin. These leaves are superficially similar to those of stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) but do not sting  hence they are described as 'dead'. The leaves themselves tend to be green at the bottom of the plant and shade to purplish at the top. The flowers of this plant are bright purple and are often produced throughout the year. It is often found alongside the similar species, Henbit Deadnettle (Lamium amplexicaule) which is easily mistaken for it since they both have similar looking leaves and similar bright purple flowers; they can be distinguished by the stalked leaves of Red Deadnettle on the flower stem, compared to the unstalked leaves of Henbit Deadnettle.

The young shoots, leaves and flowers of this plant are edible and, once washed, can be simply cooked by adding to frying pan with a knob of butter some spring onions and plenty of seasoning. When sautéed for ten minutes they are ready to consume. Ideally finish with a twist of fresh nutmeg and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice before serving. The tops of young plants can also be used in salads or can be stir-fried as a spring vegetable. The flavour is best when the plant is in flower as it can be very insipid when young.


Recipes Utilizing Red Deadnettle

Fried Herbed Deadnettle Springtime Fritters
Deadnettle and Chilli Soup
Deadnettle Beer
Plain Omelette with Onion and Deadnettle
Early Spring Salad
Deadnettle Greens
A Messe of Greens
Bacon and Deadnettle Strata
Deadnettle Purée (a soup)
Fried Dead-nettle Greens




Welcome to the Celtnet guide to wild foods. As this recipe site has grown it has become obvious that to allow people to replicate some of the more ancient recipes on this site (especially from the Ancient, Roman and Medieval periods) it is necessary to list modern alternatives but also to produce a guide so that the curious can find the original (often wild) ingredients for themselves. These pages are an attempt at bringing all these potentially useful and often forgotten wild foods together into one place.

It is a sad fact that we have lost much of the knowledge we once had of the seasonal wild foods that we have on our own doorstep and which are not only safe to eat but which are also very tasty and fresh. This section of the site grew from the work I've done on the ancient recipes section of this site. After all, for our ancestors before farming wild foods were the only foods available. This guide therefor represents images lists and recipes for various wild foods you can gather and what you can do with them. For the most part the list contains edible plants. But I am beginning to add a new section on edible wild mushrooms and this part of the site will be expanding to include many other plants and species very soon. If you would like to know how to cook with these wild foods, then as well as having links to individual recipes on these pages you can also visit my Wild Food Recipes pages for many more (over 1000 and growing) recipe ideas.



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