Nettle eaters from across the world gathered for a stingy challenge.
The ninth world nettle eating championships attracted fans of the stinging leaves to Devon on Saturday (June 18).
The prickly plants first came to the fore at the Bottle Inn, in the tiny Dorset village of Marshwood, population 300, around 1986 when two farmers were having an argument as to who had the longest nettles on their land.

"Well, it came out of a competition of the longest nettle height, we have ... Read more

Nettle eaters from across the world gathered for a stingy challenge.
The ninth world nettle eating championships attracted fans of the stinging leaves to Devon on Saturday (June 18).
The prickly plants first came to the fore at the Bottle Inn, in the tiny Dorset village of Marshwood, population 300, around 1986 when two farmers were having an argument as to who had the longest nettles on their land.

"Well, it came out of a competition of the longest nettle height, we have here in July. And, basically one of the contestants Alex Williams produced a 15 feet 6 stinging nettle, threw it down into the measuring arena and said "if anybody beats that, I'll eat that". Low and behold, a nettle came along, 16 feet long. Though to this day Alex disputes the measurement, good as his word, he actually sat down and consumed the leaves from the offending nettle.
Thus, nettle eating was born at the Bottle Inn," said organiser and pub landlord Shane Pym.

This eating contest involves keeping the mouth very wet and folding the leaves carefully, if this is not done the tongue will turn black and lips will swell up. The real art to the "sport" is keeping the mouth moist, otherwise the experience will be painful.
"Literally stings around the face, around the mouth.
They don't get the nettle pass the lips before they touch the saliva. Inside the mouth they don't sting, but outside the mouth they do," said a St Johns ambulance volunteer.
Cooked nettles quickly lose their sting, but these nettles are eaten raw. Some people are actually a fan.
"Well raw, they basically have a sort of a spinachy taste. There's a little bit of a sting to them, but then all of the best foods are piquant. Just get them in, eat them, absolutely beautiful," said Mick Lavelle.

The nettle stalks are picked only a couple of hours before the start of the competition, so are completely fresh, albeit with natural accompaniments such as caterpillars, slugs and other nettle loving bugs! As the huge bunches of stinging nettles arrived, the competitors faced one hour of munching their way through the leaves - The winner is whoever finishes with the most two foot stalks, stripped of their leaves.
Not surprisingly, the rules were tight for this level of competitive nettle eating. Only nettles provided could be eaten, competitors cannot bring their own, no mouth numbing substances were allowed - although a swig of beer in between mouthfuls was encouraged.

As the bemused crowd of hundreds of spectators looking on, the competitors described their unusual bar meal as tasting like anything from "rancid salad with no dressing" to "a mixture of spinach and cow-pat".

The eventual winner was local lad Ed Brooks, a regular at the Bottle Inn, who was both relieved and surprised of the experience.
"Wondering on earth what I was doing here for a start.
And then trying to work out what the horrible flavour was in my mouth most of it. And then hoping that time would finish fairly quickly and then totally amazed when I realised I had won," he said.
Unfortunately, for some of the contestants, washing nettles away with beer, was a little bit of a gross affair. Close