This easy to grow herb is loved by humans and bees for its blue star shaped flowers, hence it’s other name ‘star flower’.
The flowers and leaves are edible and have a mild cucumber flavor. Try adding a few leaves to a salad- use young leaves though as the older ones tend to get tough and prickly. The flowers also make a brilliant addition to drinks, especially a classic summer Pimms!
Traditionally, borage makes a good poultice and was believed to induce happiness and good humour, perhaps that’s why a common botanical used in gin!
Prized for its healing, soothing and moisturising properties, we use borage cream as the base for most of our creams, including our Rosemary & Bergamot Hand Cream.
It’s easy to grow and self seeds freely, meaning just one plant could keep you supplied with borage leaves and seeds for life.
All the plants featured in our ‘Herb of the Week’ section are available from St Kitts Herbery, Camelford at the time of publication. Please phone us to check availability at other times of the year.
The tender, young leaves are great in salads, while the more mature leaves can be used as you would ‘ordinary’ spinach- we love them lightly steamed and finished with butter and a twist of pepper.