Several parts of this plant are useful in the kitchen. Young leaves can be added to salads, and pretty blue flowers can be candied, used as a garnish, or added to drinks - especially teas! Want to attract butterflies and bees to your herb garden? Borage will help you do just that ...Several parts of this plant are useful in the kitchen. Young leaves can be added to salads, and pretty blue flowers can be candied, used as a garnish, or added to drinks - especially teas! Want to attract butterflies and bees to your herb garden? Borage will help you do just that! Native to the Mediterranean region, its summer-long growth of blue star-shaped flowers make borage one of the most attractive herbs to bees and other beneficial insects.
Because of its pleasant cucumber like flavor, borage has traditionally been used to infuse drinks; the flowers were preserved or candied. Their lovely form and color make this herb a common subject in tapestries and embroidery work of the Middle Ages. Early historian Gerard states that borage is effective "for the comfort of the heart, for the driving away of sorrow and increasing the joy of the minde." Currently, commercial growers produce borage for the oil in its seeds.
This oil has a high percentage of gamma-linolenic acid, an essential omega-6 fatty acid that plays a crucial part in the growth of skin cells.