Borage is a hardy annual with hairy, cucumber-scented leaves and edible blue star-shaped flowers, used in summer drinks, salads, Ligurian fillings and Frankfurt green sauce.
What it is¶
Borage is a vigorous, hardy annual with large, bristly, grey-green leaves and nodding clusters of five-pointed flowers of a vivid blue (sometimes white or pink). Both leaves and flowers smell and taste of fresh cucumber.
In Britain it is best known as a garnish: the flowers float in jugs of Pimm's and summer cups, freeze into ice cubes and decorate salads and cakes. In Liguria and Germany, the leaves are a proper vegetable herb, used in fillings, soups and green sauces.
The leaves are covered with stiff, prickly hairs, which soften on cooking but can be off-putting raw; young leaves are much less bristly. The plant contains small amounts of pyrrolizidine alkaloids, so it is best eaten in moderation (see below).
Origins and history¶
Borage is native to the Mediterranean and has been cultivated in Europe for centuries, spreading through physic and monastery gardens. It was associated with courage and good cheer: an old Latin tag, often quoted in herbals and attributed (probably loosely) to Pliny, runs Ego borago gaudia semper ago, "I, borage, always bring joy". Elizabethan herbalists, including John Gerard, repeated the idea that borage in wine made people merry, which may say more about the wine.
Borage is one of the seven herbs in Frankfurter Grüne Soße, the cold green sauce of Frankfurt, along with chervil, cress, parsley, salad burnet, sorrel and chives. In Liguria it is used in preboggion, a mixture of wild greens, and as the filling of pansoti and ravioli. In Crete and parts of Spain, the leaves are eaten as a cooked green.
In the late 20th century borage seed became a commercial crop for its oil, sold as "starflower oil", which is rich in gamma-linolenic acid.
Flavour and aroma¶
The flavour of borage leaves and flowers is clean and green, like cucumber skin with a faint saltiness, and very mild. The flowers are slightly sweet, with a delicate honey note. The texture of mature leaves is hairy and slightly slimy when cooked, like spinach with a fuzz; young leaves are better.
In the kitchen¶
- Flowers. Pull the blue flowers off gently by their black centres (the calyx comes away). Float them on drinks, scatter them over salads, cakes and chilled soups, or freeze them into ice cubes, one flower per cube. They can be crystallised with egg white and caster sugar.
- Drinks. A sprig of borage, leaves and flowers, is the traditional garnish for Pimm's, and it gives lemonade, gin and wine cups a cucumber note.
- Green sauce. Frankfurt Grüne Soße uses roughly equal quantities of seven herbs, about 300 g in total, finely chopped or blended with soured cream, yoghurt, a little oil, vinegar and hard-boiled eggs. It is served with boiled potatoes and eggs or boiled beef.
- Ligurian fillings. Blanch borage leaves, squeeze dry and chop, then mix with ricotta or prescinsêua, Parmesan, egg and nutmeg to fill pansoti, traditionally served with a walnut sauce. Borage also goes into Ligurian vegetable pies (torta verde) and fritters.
- Soup. Cook the leaves like spinach in soups and risotto; they pair well with potatoes.
💡 Use young leaves
Pick leaves no longer than about 8 cm. Older ones are coarse and very hairy. Finely chopping or blanching both help.
Buying and storing¶
Borage is rarely sold; grow it or look for leaves at farmers' markets in early summer. Leaves and flowers wilt within hours. Pick them just before use; flowers keep a day or two in a sealed box in the fridge, lined with damp paper.
It does not dry well. Frozen in ice cubes the flowers keep for months; blanched leaves can be frozen for fillings. See storing fresh herbs.
Substitutes¶
For the cucumber flavour in drinks, use a strip of cucumber peel. In green sauces and fillings, spinach with a little cucumber, or extra chervil and sorrel, works. Viola and nasturtium flowers substitute as edible garnishes, though they taste different.
Pairs well with¶
Cucumber, potatoes, eggs, ricotta and soft cheese, soured cream and yoghurt, strawberries, lemon, gin and summer cups, chervil, sorrel, parsley, chives and dill.
Growing your own¶
Borage is one of the easiest herbs to grow. It is a hardy annual that grows to 60–90 cm and flowers from early summer until the first frosts.
- Sowing. Sow directly outdoors from March to June, 1–2 cm deep, and thin to 30–45 cm apart. It has a long taproot and does not transplant well.
- Position. Full sun or light shade; it tolerates poor, dry soil. In rich soil it becomes large and floppy, so stake if needed.
- Self-seeding. It self-seeds very freely and will usually reappear year after year.
- Wildlife. It is outstanding for bees, which visit it constantly, and is often grown near strawberries and beans as a companion.
See annual and perennial herbs.
Health and safety¶
Borage leaves and flowers contain small amounts of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (such as lycopsamine and amabiline), which can damage the liver if consumed in quantity or regularly over long periods.
- Occasional use as a garnish or in green sauce is not generally regarded as harmful.
- Avoid eating large quantities of the leaves frequently, and avoid borage entirely during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and in people with liver disease.
- The seed oil (starflower oil) sold as a supplement should be certified free of pyrrolizidine alkaloids; this is a supplement question, not a culinary one.
- Some people get skin irritation from the bristly hairs; wear gloves if sensitive.