Borage Flowers

‘The sprigs of borage in wine are of known virtue to revive the hypochondriac and cheer the hard student.’

John Evelyn, Acetaria

I used to dismiss borage as simply a garnish for Pimm’s, but now see it as a flower that has a useful role to play in the kitchen. Borage certainly adds colour to salads and other dishes, but it has little fragrance to speak of, other than a faint taste of John Evelyn, Acetaria cucumber, although it has long found favour with herbalists and cooks. In the sixteenth century John Gerard acknowledged the findings of Pliny and Dioscirides, who recognised that borage had a cheering effect, writing that, ‘The leaves and floures of Borrage put into wine make men and women glad and merry, driving away all sadnesse, dulnesse and melancholy.’ Borage was also thought to impart courage, and the flowers were given in wine to departing Crusaders, and also embroidered on banners taken into battle. Today, borage oil, extracted from the seeds, is sought after as an excellent source of Omega 3, and is sometimes sold as starflower oil.