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Seasonal nettle soup in Old Stanovchich Kitchen restaurant, Herceg Novi



Nettle soup is extremely healthy and tasty when prepared with skillful hands. But to choose this soup to offer in a restaurant, you need a special motivation, I think. We are discussing this topic with Svetlana Stanovchich, the host lady of the Old Stanovchich Kitchen restaurant in Kameno, Herceg Novi.


- Good afternoon, Svetlana, I know that for the winter season, starting from autumn, you serve nettle soup in your Old Stanovchich Kitchen restaurant. Why did you choose this soup? Usually nettle is offered as food, rather, in the spring, when the plant is young.


- Good day, Elena. You know, we have a warm climate in Montenegro, and plants bloom again in autumn, autumn is like a second spring after a hot summer. Young shoots appear on plants. And nettle is an extremely healthy plant. In our ancient monasteries and family homes, nettle recipes have been preserved, with the help of which strength was maintained at a time when colds and rains came. Nettle soup is known to be useful for all anemic, convalescent, debilitated. People undergoing chemotherapy, for example, have a special need for the substances stored in nettle, because nettle cleanses the blood and strengthens the body. Nettle is very useful for children, for their growth. It is very important that the nettle is a wild plant, it is not sprayed with pesticides, it grows naturally. And if the nettle is collected in a clean place, like our mountains in Kameno, it is indeed a valuable and healthy plant.


- But nettle leaves burn, how do you cook soup from them?


- There are old traditional recipes for this. Many of these recipes were indeed preserved by the monks. They didn't eat meat, as you know. In addition, about half of the year in Orthodoxy is fasting. Therefore, it was in the monasteries that the most valuable and useful for mankind was preserved. Nettle leaves boiled in soup are rather silky and velvety, with a pleasant aroma and taste. This is achieved by the fact that clean and healthy nettle leaves are poured with hot water, left for a while, and this water is then drained, not used. The resulting nettle leaves become the basis for soups, fillings and salads. If, then, you add sour cream, grated cheese, other ingredients to the soup, it turns out to be a wonderful and nutritious dish.


- Montenegrin nettle soup has any differences from other options?


- In Montenegro, corn flour or other coarse flour, pepper, horseradish are added to nettle soup. Nettle leaves are not cut with a knife, they are crushed with a special tool during the cooking process or left whole. The taste of the soup improves when a little sour is added, such as lemon or grated horseradish. According to old recipes, nettle soup is stirred with a sprig of dogwood, which adds flavor. A branch of dogwood with short shoots, if rubbed in the palms, rotating, is an ancient mixer.


- Very interesting, Svetlana. Thanks for the story! This is a must-try.


- Thank you, Elena! We are waiting for you for the master class on this! Let's try together to make and see what happens.

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