Sunday, June 24, 2012

Borage Ice Cubes

I love to grow Borage in my herb garden.  It is an easy to grow annual that has beautiful blue flowers (sometimes a few pink ones too) that have a cucumber flavor.   It is good for attracting pollinating bees which makes it a good companion plant for strawberries and tomatoes.  It's even supposed to keep tomato hornworms away and improve the taste of the tomato if planted close.  The leaves and flowers are edible both having a cucumber-like flavor.  The leaves are best when they are young because the bigger the plant gets the fuzzier and pricklier the leaves get.   Some people cook the leaves as you would greens such as spinach.  I've never tried it though.  The fuzziness of the plant kind of discourages me from that endeavor.  But I do so love the flowers!  They are great in salads.  Not only does it add flavor it makes such a pretty presentation.  This year I've been picking the flowers and freezing them in ice cube trays.  I'm thinking some mint and maybe some chamomile flowers frozen into ice cubes would be a great addition.  When I get that done I'll fix me a glass of lemonade or maybe some tea and use my beautiful ice cubes to enhance the look and the flavor.  It's going to be great!  


Always use caution when ingesting edible flowers for the first time.  The borage can be a mild laxative for some people so you would want to see how your body reacts before ingesting too many.

I'll post more pictures later of my ice cold beverage!

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