Borage Ice Cubes Recipes

FRESH FLOWER/HERB BLOSSOM ICE CUBES FOR SUMMERTIME ENTERTAINING

Steps:

• Gather and gently rinse all of your pesticide-free blossoms.
• Boil water for 2 minutes for all the air trapped in the water to escape. Then leave to cool till room temperature. This will ensure that the ice cubes are crystal clear.
• Place each blossom at the base of each individual compartment within an ice tray (or more trays if you have a large party).
• Fill each compartment half full with the cooled boiled water and freeze.
• After the water is frozen solid, fill each ice cube compartment the rest of the way to the top with the remaining boiled water.
• Refreeze and allow it to remain in the freezer until you are ready to use them (store in the freezer in zip lock bags).
• NOTE: You can also freeze a large ice ring for the punch bowl, with a variety of blossoms. Don't use the glass punchbowl or it will expand and burst in the freezer. Instead, use a ring-shaped cake tin and fill it with flowers and water. Follow the same procedure as above (filling halfway, then freezing), but you can add additional blossoms to the second layer so that the blossoms are throughout the large ice ring.
• Use the ice cubes in pitchers or glasses of lemonade, iced tea, juices, punches and cocktails.

OLD ENGLISH SPARKLING BORAGE WINE CUP

Steps:

• Blend brandy, sugar, wine, juice and ice until combined.
• Combine champagne, lemonade, ginger ale, borage and wine mixture in large bowl just before serving.
• Serve in chapagne flutes and decorate with borage flowers.
• Notes on Borage: Borage is a traditional herb used as a diuretic, diaphoretic, and anti-inflammatory. It was also thought to relieve symptoms of melancholy. Borage is a native of the Mediterranean but is well adapted to growing in British soils.
• These days, borage is rarely used in cooking or grown in the common herb garden. It is a beautiful plant with delicate blue flowers. The leaves, flowers and stalks of borage are edible, however borage is a voracious grower and can take over a garden very quickly. This has lead to a decline in its popularity as a garden plant and also as an ingredient in meals.
• Using Borage in Cooking.
• Borage is a versatile herb in the kitchen; its leaves, stalk and flowers are edible. The young, fresh leaves have a mild cucumber taste and can be added to salads, used in stocks, soups and stews, or brewed to make a refreshing tea. You could also try adding them to sandwiches instead of lettuce, or chopping them and adding them to cream cheese or yogurt. When cooked, borage leaves may be used as a substitute to spinach. Don't be put off by the fine white hairs on the leaves, as once in the mouth they quickly dissolve. They also disappear when cooked.
• Borage flowers are beautiful and both look and taste fantastic in salads. They can also be preserved or candied. Why not try freezing some in ice cubes and adding them to drinks or simply floating the blooms in a glass of lemonade?
• The stems of borage are used to flavour a number of alcoholic beverages, including Pimms No. 1. In Spain the stems are parboiled and fried in batter. Chopped up, they make a great addition to soups and can also be eaten raw; giving a hearty crunch to salads.

BORAGE ICE CUBES

Steps:

• Half fill ice block trays with cold water and freeze solid. Remove from freezer and tip out the half blocks. Put a borage flower into each division, replace the half blocks and top them up with water. The flower is then trapped between the water and the ice. When the tray is returned to the freezer the borage flower will be set in the middle of the ice block. Otherwise the flowers tend to float to the top.
• Or you can place the flower in a half filled tray, freeze then top with other half of water and freeze.