Borage

Medicinal Monday - Herbs Spices

May 7, 2012 in Site Updates

Botanical Name: Borago Officinalis

A Borage and Echinacea tea have a calming effect.
Reduces fever and induces sweating.
Helps combat measles, mumps, chicken pox, colds and flus.
Mix equal amounts of fresh borage leaves and powdered Echinacea root. Brew in hot water, steep for 10 min. and sweeten with honey. Drink 1 cup 3 times per day.

Borage leaves are diuretic, it increase sweat and urine.
It acts as an adrenal stimulant, useful for countering stress and lingering effects of steroid therapy.
Tea made from Borage soothes sore throats and irritated coughs.

The seed oil contains gamma linoleic acid. Found primarily in vegetable oils and used as a dietary supplement for treating problems with inflammation and auto-immune diseases.
The acid is used to to treat metabolic disturbances, including obesity, premenstrual syndrome, eczema, high blood pressure and alcoholism.
Recent evidence suggests Borage may be useful for treating heart disease and cancer.
The leaves are a good source of vitamin C, organic calcium and potassium, essential oils, tannins and mucilages. It’s also has saponins that strengthen resistance and flavonoids that prevent infection.
The silicic acid in Borage stimulates hormone production and balances mood swings.

A Borage tea will help promote healthy milk flow while you’re nursing.
Add a generous handful of fresh Borage leaves to ½ gal. of lemonade, or to the same amount of a mild hot tea, which ever flavor you enjoy - chamomile, fennel, nettle and violet blossoms are Excellent choices.
Let steep for at least 20 minutes, then strain through a paper filter. Drink a cup 3-4 times a day for best results.

Borage is hard to find commercially. If you plan to make it a regular part of your diet, plant it in your garden. It attracts honeybees, ensuring pollination of other plants.
Plant the herb in sandy soil in which water drains rapidly. Sow in mid-or late spring, in full sun or partial shade, and again in early and midsummer.
Borage is an annual, it will die at the end of the season, but self sown seedlings germinate for replacement plants.
For medicinal use, the leaves are best gathered before the flower buds appear. The plant is easily bruised, so handle gently and use right away. The young leaves have a prickly texture that are edible.

Preserve Borage in vinegar or in an alcohol tincture. It does not dry or freeze well.
Capture the flavor of Borage over the long term by making a blue vinegar from the blossoms or an emerald green vinegar from the leaves. These vinegars make wonderful gifts in decorative bottles.
“Cucumber herb” is another name for borage, and complement plain and pickled cucumbers. It adds flavor to salads, soups and summer stews. Try with eggs and fish.
The pretty blue blossoms are also edible. Remove the green sepals on the undersides before using, then sprinkle the flowers over soups and salads.
Freeze the flowers in ice for a garnish for punches and other summer drinks.
For cooking, use young leaves that are no larger than a half dollar. For teas, the bigger leaves are fine.
Borage is an essential ingredient to many Italian dishes. Borage risotto is very popular, as is ravioli stuffed with borage.
To enhance the flavor of dishes, sprinkle Borage leaves or stir them in before serving. It loses much of it’s flavor and aroma, once cooked.