[Sca-cooks] Borage

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

K C Francis <katiracook at hotmail.com> wrote:
> In our community garden, with 2 bee hives, I foster borage anywhere it isn't in the way 
> of plantings or walking around. Then it goes into my compost pile. I don't want to 
> discourage reproduction. The same goes for poppies, nasturtiums and purslane. Let it 
> grow until it is a problem. This last year I let a patch of nasturtiums get too full and 
> it stunted a couple of tomato plants. While the flowers were beautiful, I really wanted 
> the tomatoes!

Nasturtium flowers are edible and a beautiful addition to a salad. The pale green flower buds can be picked at the end of the summer, pickled, and used like capers. And the leaves can be eaten while young. They can be used in salads (although a salad entirely of them might be a bit too spicy), cooked as almost any greens, and i've run across recipes for nasturtium leaf pesto. I've also seen recipes for dolmades made with more mature nasturtium leaves.

Nasturtiums are no replacement for tomatoes, but they can do more than look bright and cheerful in a garden.

Someone sometimes called Urtatim