BORAGE

The borage excitement continues!!!! As most of you are aware, yours truly has been having fun in the garden since being back at the ancestorial home. This past spring I planted a wildflower garden, hundreds of seeds, one of which was borage. Seen above. I'm here to tell you there is a ton of it already, and I had no idea how unique and pretty it was, but it was my UK friends of Jon and Christina and a feisty Tundra Bunny who brought to my attention that, and to my delight, could be used in my G&T's. It has come up now several posts, and I must have had too much gin, because I had forgotten our conversations about it. So off to google I went.

I learned Borage is an annual herb in the flowering plant family Boraginaceae, native to the Mediterranean region. Although the plant contains small amounts of pyrrolizdine alkaloids, some parts are edible, and its seeds provide oil. The flowers as seen from the ones in my garden are complete, perfect with five narrow, triangular- pointed petals. Flowers are most often blue, although I noticed that some pink ones popped up. Apparently, the blue is genetically dominant over the pink. I'm amazed how big and how much space it has taken up. The bees seem to go nuts over it. Traditionally, borage was cultivated for culinary and medicinal uses, although today it is mainly as an oilseed. The whole borage plant and flowers are used for fever, cough, and depression, used for a hormone problem called adrenal insufficiency, for blood purification, increase urine flow, prevent inflammation of the lungs, used as a sedative, and helps to promote sweating. I also saw another site say it's oil can be used to relieve arthritis symptoms to help reduce swelling and pain. But it's the other stuff that is interesting and true. Borage is used as either a fresh vegetable, or a dried herb. As a fresh veggie, borage has a cucumber-like taste, while the flowers have a sweet, honey-like taste. But all the hub bub came when both Christina and Tundra , along with Jon said it can be also used on desserts and cakes and made into a simple syrup, and both Jon and Tundra told me to my delight of it being used in gin and tonics!!! So you know me. I was off to find out.

Some of my clipped borage. I thought I would try Jon's suggestion first, of placing the flowers in ice cubes.

In the water they went and came out the next day frozen.

How pretty they look!!! So tonight, I made a nice gin and tonic, with some of the ice cubes and they looked so pretty in the glass and they did, once starting to dissolve add a extra kick of that cucumber taste.

Talk about a refreshing and pretty cock-a-tail!!!! As we know, I can't get enough gin as it is, which is why I swear I haven't been sick in years... I swear, I think I'm one of those medical freaks who never gets any sickness or bugs. I never even had the Covid yet. Now knowing the benefits of this wonderful plant right in my garden I'll probably live to be 110. Last time I had a bad cold was sometime in 2016. A huge thank- you and hat tip to me Brit and Canadian friends for the fresh tips! Cheers kids!!!