Let’s talk about Borage

So, you know how it is, that you struggle to grow something and then you suddenly get a lot of it, which no idea of how to use it?
That’s Borage for me. I have wanted to grow it for my trees and medicinal use, but they never did. Then this year we finished the food forest by spreading out a 6” layer of compost. Then I mixing wild flower seeds with some vegetables and herbal seeds. Since I never had been successful in growing borage, I tossed in 1/2 a pound of borage seeds. Well, be careful about what you wish for. I now have at least 10 giant plants growing. One is now overtaking one of my apple trees.
So far we have eaten flowers and let the bees eat too, but what can I use the rest of the plant (leaves, stalk, seeds, root) for?
I am looking for recipes and tips both culinary and medicinal use of the plant.

Well, there's not doubt in my mind that Borage feeds the bees! Particularly in the late fall where I live, when there aren't so many other flowers.

However, I've never had a huge oversupply, so the only things I have done is chop some finely into soups, or added some to a mixed-greens pesto.

Jay Angler wrote:Well, there's not doubt in my mind that Borage feeds the bees! Particularly in the late fall where I live, when there aren't so many other flowers.

However, I've never had a huge oversupply, so the only things I have done is chop some finely into soups, or added some to a mixed-greens pesto.

Thank you for the tip. I will try that. My son is making carrot top pesto tomorrow, since my carrots are ready for harvest. I will have him try and add some and see how it tastes.
If leaves can be used in soups, freeze drying them might work. That’s what we do with extra greens like beet leaves for example, when we have too much of them.

Borage was on my property when I made my purchase.  Since then I have seen none.

Since I have no experience cooking it I will say that I believe those plants are telling you something.

Planting by spreading out a 6” layer of compost helped the borage.

I just want to post to share a bit of a laugh with you.

I too have had a problem growing borage! I bought a half pound of seed and sprinkled it all around my property and now am in the same boat as you!

Small world and an excellent topic to post about.

Timothy Norton wrote:I just want to post to share a bit of a laugh with you.

I too have had a problem growing borage! I bought a half pound of seed and sprinkled it all around my property and now am in the same boat as you!

Small world and an excellent topic to post about.

Okay, that is a little funny, and it’s good I am not alone in doing this. Have you thought about what to use your borage for?
Also off topic, but still funny:
My family just shakes their heads, since I have a tendency to grow monster plants. I baby my plants and soil. Every plant gets a daily inspection for pests, weeds and disease. Last year my main basil plant grew 4’ tall and 2’ wide. I got 1/2 gallon of freeze dried leaves and 1/2 gallon of pesto out of one plant. This year some of my beets were over 2 pounds each.

I'm currently using the borage as a pollinator attractor near but not in my vegetable gardens. I also am hoping to use it as a form of green manure.

I have a good amount growing in some rocky soil that I have been pulling slate roofing chunks out of. It seems to be a never ending rock pile but the borage doesn't seem bothered. The hope is that it will assist in slowing down some invasive plants by competing for space.

Anne Miller wrote:Borage was on my property when I made my purchase.  Since then I have seen none.

Since I have no experience cooking it I will say that I believe those plants are telling you something.

Planting by spreading out a 6” layer of compost helped the borage.

I bought a total of 50 yards of compost and composted mulch last fall, as the final step in the food forest before planting the last shrubs and sowing wild flowers and herbs. The goal was to suppressing the California grasses, that was dominating the area, to give the flowers and herbs a better chance to get established. Second goal was to provide more organic matter to improve the soil quality. This was the third time we added compost and mulch, but the other times it wasn’t this much. The gophers are my helpers in improving our sandy clay soil. They bring the compost down and push the sand up, so that over the last 7 years the soil quality has gotten to a nice dark color and things are thriving. I think I am probably the only California gardener who likes my gophers. I make sure they have access to plants I am okay with them eating, and I put our own food plants in cages, so they are hard to access. This way they are paid for their work, and we live in harmony. That said, I also have several gopher snakes and cats, that keep the gopher and rabbit population under control. If not, they would take over.

Timothy Norton wrote:I'm currently using the borage as a pollinator attractor near but not in my vegetable gardens. I also am hoping to use it as a form of green manure.

I have a good amount growing in some rocky soil that I have been pulling slate roofing chunks out of. It seems to be a never ending rock pile but the borage doesn't seem bothered. The hope is that it will assist in slowing down some invasive plants by competing for space.

I feel for you. I dug out enough rocks to fill my fountain, and are now collecting more to make a sun spot for lizards and snakes. I am also lucky enough to have gophers who, with a little bribery, help dig through the soil and mix in mulch and compost.
We also had a lot of invasive weeds, especially grasses, it’s why I spread out a 6” layer over the whole lot, before I seeded it with the plants I wanted there. It worked to suppress most of the weeds, so I was able to manage what did grow, until what I seeded was able to take over. I will be honest and say that I hate the grasses. The seeds stick to my clothes, so I have to spend hours picking out seeds before I wash them. Only my long old fashioned cotton skirts don’t get seeds stuck to them, and it’s not always practical to do gardening in a full length skirt.

Borage has a cucumber-like, spicy and refreshing taste. This makes it particularly suitable as a seasoning herb for lettuce, cucumber salad, cabbage, soups, mushrooms and herb sauces - or you can even replace cucumbers in salads with borage. Or add the leaves to a cucumber salad. To season cooked dishes, you should only add borage shortly before the end of the cooking time so that the aromas are not lost.

The Italians prepare borage like spinach and use it, for example, for ravioli fillings.

To make a tasty borage soup, the herb is first sorted and cleaned. Then the borage leaves can be chopped and sautéed in oil with finely diced onions and garlic. Once the borage has collapsed, you can deglaze it with vegetable stock and let it simmer for five minutes. Finally, puree everything finely with a hand blender and season with salt, pepper and cream.

My family love trying Asian meals especially Japanese so instead of using borage for the usual drinks and salad and sauce additions, I love to use borage leaves when I do Tempura vegetables, - google gives very easy methods to make tempura batter.  Using very cold soda water with the flour gives a nice light batter.

I love the batter on borage leaves because it is a very light, yummy, and crispy crunchy way to enjoy your greens. Also the hairs on the borage leaves disappear as you quickly fry, just leaving yummy flavoured crispy leaves.

Sometimes I add different herbs or spices to the tempura batter depending on my mood, but do try it yourself, as I write this I find my mouth watering - I just might have to  make some with tonight's dinner.

Thanks for those recipes, Annette.  I have been told that before the fays of lettuce, people ate borage as salad.  I have put it in my salads but am not fond of the texture… and am impressed by the tenacity of our forebears.  Dunno why I never thought of cooking it.  At this point I would say use it the same way as nettles.

I often freeze extra greens, kale spinach nettles etc.  I get them clean enough to eat, then stuff them into a plastic bag.  When frozen I crunch them up with my hands… they are ready to go into soups, stir fries, smoothies, eggs….  I usually cut the midribs and coarse stems like celery.  I guess I can add borage to that list.

I don’t know if borage leaves contain compounds beneficial to the skin, if so, an oil infusion made into a salve or lotion would be simple.

Borage leaf tea would be healthy.

Borage seed oil is great and very expensive.  I wonder if one could extract any of the benefits by soaking the seed in oil for a month in a warm place.  Maybe crushing the seeds would help the desired compounds escape into the carrier oil.

That’s my brain dump on borage today.😊

Add it to Pimms and sit in the sun drinking a lovely chilled glass while surveying your plot.

Anne Miller wrote:Borage was on my property when I made my purchase.  Since then I have seen none.
Since I have no experience cooking it I will say that I believe those plants are telling you something.
Planting by spreading out a 6” layer of compost helped the borage.

Since you and Ulla both used compost, I'm sure the compost helps. That is one thing you have in common. My other idea is that perhaps, there was a delayed germination? Depending when the borage seed was planted, the plant may have decided to hold her power until the following year? [This is pure speculation on my part, but when something is planted way late in the season, it happens. I feel that most volunteer squash/ cucurbits that one tosses when they are ripe don't grow then, but the following year, they sometimes do with a vengeance!]

Keep in mind that borage contains certain alcaloids and should not be consumed on a regular basis. The flowers contain much less and are safer, but be careful with the leaves. I would stay clear of known liver toxins in any case.

Good to know, Anita.  Thanks

I am curious about levels of alkaloids and how toxic they are.  Of course caution is good, but one liver function is hepatotoxins detoxification.  Common substances often contain hepatotoxins, in fact countless pharmaceuticals are hepatotoxic, as are multitudes of over the counter compounds like Tylenol and compounds “generally regarded as safe” and allowed in the industrialized food supply .  And alcohol is pretty toxic to the liver.

The liver does regenerate itself, but the balance is crucial, between rates of regeneration and inputs of compounds requiring detoxification.

As my life depends on a healthy liver homeostasis, I will definitely be doing my research!  As should we all 😊

Thanks again for bringing it up

In the Aragon region of Spain, where I lived for ten years, borage (borraja) is a popular winter vegetable. They harvest the stalks when they are about 30-40 cm long (12-15 inches), and chop and boil with potatoes. Serve like that with a sprinkling of olive oil and some bread on the side. Some people laboriously scrape the bristles off the stalks but, if the stalks are young, the bristles are perfectly edible once cooked.
Below is a link to a short video of a popular Spanish TV chef doing a more elaborate recipe in which he boils the stalks separately (removes leaves first but doesn't bother removing bristles), fries potatoes separately in chunks, then sautés garlic, adds chunks of Spanish cured ham (optional for vegetarians and then a few spoons of flour, plus some of the borage cooking water to make a sauce. Finally, cooked borage and fried potatoes on top.
The video is very clear even if you don't speak Spanish. In particular, it shows clearly what the stalks should look like for cooking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io8MF1Zov9s

In northern Spain, it's a winter crop, so I understand it's planted in the autumn. The only time I tried to grow it, I planted it in the spring, and it bolted before I had a chance to eat any!