On June 13th, a record crowd of 1,000 people gathered on the lawns of the Bottle House Inn in the West Dorset village of Marshwood, England to watch the annual 'Stinging Nettle Eating' competition.

The tradition, now in its 20th year, began when two of the Inn's customers began an argument over who had a longer stinging nettle branch. Overhearing them, the landlady decided to start a competition for the 'longest nettle'.

This continued for three years, until Alex Williams, a local resident showed up with his winning 15in 6cm, nettle branch. He was so sure that his was the longest, that he wowed to eat the nettle if anyone could produce a longer one. Much to his dismay, an American couple came in with a 16 inch nettle. True to his word, Alex chomped down the winners' nettle and thereby began the 'Stinging Nettle Eating' competition.

The rules are quite simple. Each competitor receives several 2ft. long stalks of nettle and an hour to eat as many of the leaves as they can. The person who has eaten the most, is crowned 'King of Stingers'. To discourage cheating, all nettles are provided by the Inn and in order to ensure that competitors do not spit any out, no bathroom breaks are allowed. However, since this a local pub, a swig of beer in between bites is highly encouraged.

While this began as a local event, it has grown in popularity with contestants coming from as far as Canada and Australia. This year's winner in the men's competition was Mike Hobbs from Dorchester, who managed to devour 48ft of nettles. The 'Queen of the Stinging Nettles' title went to a local, Mel Lang who managed to consume a similar amount!

While nettle leaves are very nutritious and a regular addition to teas, stews and even beers in the UK, they can be a little tricky to eat raw. That's because the leaves are covered with thousands of tiny spikes each filled with acid. The act of chewing causes the spikes to break, releasing the acid, which causes a burning sensation on the tongue, not to mention leave a 'hulk' like green color that lasts for days.

However, advocates of this plant say they are wonderful plants, just a little misunderstood (and very very spiky!)

sources: telegraph.co.uk, thebottleinn.com