borage

I have grown some borage from seed which is yet to flower but has already spread to other parts of the garden. I have never grown this before but have read that bees love it.

Has anyone actually used the leaves and flowers in their cooking or salads?

 

I read in one of my herb books once, the saying: 'Borage for Courage'. Apparently the saxon soldiers used to drink a potent brew of borage just before a battle because it turned them into complete nutters. Then immediately after they ran screaming towards the enemy, the women folk would use the same pot to make up a big batch of yarrow brew ready to dress the wounds of the soldiers after the battle.

Anyway, you have to be a little bit careful with borage, and indeed all of the borago family because although in moderation most say its safe, it does contain a chemical that causes kidney damage in larger quantities. Probably because your adrenal glands are on your kidneys, and the old 'borage for courage' thing has some scientific backing, as some scientific research has suggested that a chemical in borage stimulates the adrenal glands.

 

Alway been a bit scared of it since the carcinogen scare of Comfrey in the 1980s (think thats the same family?)

Very pretty flowers though.

 

I pull the flower petals off and put them in the girls' Pimms which they seem to like :thumb:

 

How dare you call my Pimms "Punch"

 

Was that when homebrew books stopped including recipes for comfrey root wine?

 

i make borage ice cubes - very fiddly but very pretty

just ease the petals off (try and keep the flower shape) and put in ice tray - add water and freeze

the kids love em too

Loopy

 

There was a case of a mad woman in America a couple of years or so ago. She was a health and fitness fanatic, and took all the latest wonder supplements. She'd read of the health giving effects of comfrey, and was going through a minimum of 40 capsules per day over a period of several months. After a while she was taken ill, and later died of kidney failure.

The family tried to sue the herbal shop that was supplying her. They tried all sorts of arguments, including that they should have known that comfrey contains a chemical that is toxic in high doses, and even that the shop staff should have realised that this woman was buying a minimum of one pack per day, every day, and they should have stopped selling it to her.

It must have been quite high profile, as it made the news here. Maybe that incident was a contributing factor to comfrey suddenly taking a low profile.

I think the moral of the story is that its probably best not to use several whole plants worth per day every day