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Borage (Borago officinalis) is an annual herb growing wildly in Central and Eastern Europe. It grows to a height of one meter (3 feet), has small beautiful blue or pink flowers and is hairy all over. It produces plenty of seeds and thus continues to grow and spread from where it is first sown or planted.
The leaves have been found to contain small amounts (10ppm of dried herb) of the liver-toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids intermedine, lycopsamine, amabiline and supinine. They taste like fresh cucumber and are used in salads and soups especially in Germany. One of the more well known recipes with borage is the Green Sauce made in Frankfurt. Frankfurter Grüne Sauce, as it is called in Germany, is made from seven herbs: parsley, chervil, chives, cress, sorrel (Rumex acetosa), burnet (Sanguisorba minor) and borage.
The flower, which contains the non-toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloid thesinine, has a sweet honey-like taste and is often used to decorate desserts and dishes. If frozen into ice-cubes, the flowers become exotic drink coolers.
Borage oil is a rich source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), a very rare essential fatty acid. As people age, their ability to create their own GLA declines as their delta-6-desaturase declines, and so borage oil becomes a very valuable source for GLA for them.
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