The leaves, stem and flowers of borage are all edible and supposedly have a cucumber-like flavor (I still have yet to try them). The leaves can be eaten in salads or steamed like spinach (although they are really hairy so I would probably leaned towards cooking them), the stem can be cut and cooked like celery, the plant can be candied, or, of course, made into a tea. To make a tea, pour about 1 cup of boiling water over 1/4 cup of leaves and let simmer.
The flowers and leaves are thought to help with bronchitis and other throat ailments . Borage is anti-diarrheal and can help with gastritis and IBS. It can also be used as an adrenal toner.
Borage is used to help stimulate milk production in breastfeeding mothers (cool!), and is also used to treat depression and as a cure for hangovers. Hope I don't need to try it out for that anytime too soon....
The leaves can be ground into a paste and used externally to help with fevers, sprains, swelling, skin irritations, bruising and bites.
In the garden, borage is a good companion plant for strawberries and tomatoes and is supposed to make an excellent high-nutrient mulch.
I love Borage! I have been growing it for years now and it self-sows like crazy all over the garden. I don't mind because the flowers are just too pretty. They are so photogenic aren't they? :)
ReplyDelete~Cynthia {brambleberriesintherain.com}