One of the herbs in my new herb garden is Borage. Borage is an annual so if I like it I’ll need to plant it again next year. I planted the seeds right in the ground after the danger of frost had passed (okay, it had long passed–they were planted around the end of May) and they had no problem germinating and growing. The Borage leaves are supposed to taste like cucumbers, which they do–we’ve tried them. It’s like chewing on cucumber with the peel on, not as mild as a peeled cucumber.
You would think this would be a great thing to add to a salad or just snack on as you’re weeding the herb garden. The problem with my Borage is that the leaves are hairy and spiny. You can see the spines on the underside of the leaf in the next photo. I’m not putting that in my salad! Are there other varieties that have a smoother leaf? I’ll be checking into this for next year. The hairy salad just doesn’t do anything for me.
I’m also thinking that maybe if the leaves are cooked the hairy/spiny stuff would soften and not be noticeable. I may have to try it. According to wikipedia, cooking Borage is a common way to serve it. We’ll see what we come up with. It’s having no trouble producing leaves.
Anyone with any Borage experience? Is it always this hairy?
Keep preparing! Angela
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I’ve grown Borage in the past. The seeds I planted at the new house haven’t taken yet.
It self sows. A lot. Like once you have grown it, you won’t have to plant it again.
Apparently it is an excellent companion to strawberries.
The younger leaves don’t seem to be as spiny. I haven’t heard of one that isn’t spiny. But I never found that eating the leaves, spines and all, ever bothered me. I haven’t cooked them, but I would expect the spines to cook off. Nettles are much worse and their spines soften with some cooking.
The flowers go awesome in salads!
I bought ONE plant 2 summers ago. It self sows very well. I relocate plants as I find them OR BETTER only IF they are growing in a place I really don’t want them to grow otherwise I leave them and work around them.
I’ve had Borage for 15 years…it self-sows way too easy! I keep it because the bees love it and the flowers are pretty in salads…you can put leaves in iced water for a cool, clean, cukey taste.
try juicing it instead!
I just use the flowers. Mine is always spiny. I LOVE that it self-seeds, because that saves me money. I plant it to attract bees, and for the flowers.