The Many Uses Of Borage

Lovely borage.  Not only is it a great companion plant for most things in the garden, the blossoms are both delicious and nutritious and it is very pretty when in bloom.  All that being said, it seems that there should be something to do with the plant more than just eating the blossoms and admiring it.  Although the leaves are edible, my family finds the prickly, fuzzy texture of them to be a bit of a put off.  My daughter put the leaves on her sandwich one day and declared it ‘ok but not great’.  A quick trip to the computer led me to a sight that claims borage jelly is pretty good.  It uses both the leaves and the blossoms -  both of which we have plenty.  Here is a link to the recipe:

http://www.food.com/recipe/borage-jelly-381762

After making sure we had all the ingredients on hand, I sent the kids to pick the borage.  They came back with plenty and we went to work.  Guess what, I actually followed the directions!  Well, all except for the one that says to use dry pectin.  I had unknowingly picked up the liquid variety.  Never having used it before (and rarely using pectin at all for our jelly), I had no idea if I needed to alter the recipe to adjust for it.  I ended up just using it in replace of the dry and following the rest of the directions as written.

It didn’t gel.  I ended up with seven half pint jars of very runny jelly.   Always looking for the bright side of things, I declared it syrup and we had pancakes for dinner.  I added a bit of fruit and we enjoyed our creation very much!

I found another recipe for borage jelly that I plan on trying next.  If you look at this recipe, you’ll notice that it doesn’t call for any sugar and uses honey instead.  I like the sound of that.  I wanted to try it before blogging here so that I could report the results, but the local stores were out of dry pectin and I didn’t want to repeat my mistake (if indeed that had anything to do with it).  Either way, they say that practice makes perfect and I have plenty of plants to practice on.   

http://borninthewrongcentury.com/2011/05/29/recipe-borage-jelly/

If you’re not a jelly or syrup fan, here is a whole page of recipes using borage.  They range from salads to soups to cocktails, and there’s even a recipe for borage fritters!

http://www.herb.co.za/herbal/borage-recipes.htm

All in all, it seems that there are many uses for borage if you’re just willing to explore a little bit.  Here in Texoma land, we need to take advantage of the plants that grow well, and borage seems very happy here.

Happy Gardening!