Borage, and brain balls
Kill pain with this edible flower, plus M&S's new brain snack reviewed
One day as an early teen, I had a really bad headache and asked my mum for an aspirin.
“You don’t need that,” she said.
“You need a borage leaf. It’s anti-inflammatory.”
She went out into our urban garden, picked said leaf and before I could stop her, was slathering a piece of bread with butter, sticking a couple of leaves between 2 slices, and handing it to me.
“Eat it! The bread and butter will hide the bitter taste,” she said.
Wincing, I slowly ate the sandwich.
At least none of my school friends could see this, I was thinking.
The headache (and it was a killer – I remember it this long after, probably a pre-menstrual one) disappeared – within about 20 minutes.
As you’ll see my mum was what was known in the Seventies as a bit “alternative”.
I used to get teased mercilessly at school.
While other kids had a finger of Cadbury Fudge (remember them?) as a snack, I’d be sent to school with a tangerine.
Why couldn’t we be like everyone else, I used to think.
Now I’m grown up I can see she was ahead of her time and I’m grateful for so many lessons learnt.
Today I’m thankful to people like Dr Chris Van Tulleken, and his bestselling book Ultra Processed People, for shining the spotlight finally on how unhealthy fake food is.
Anyway, I digress.
Coming back to the headache story, I am in no way saying don’t take meds or prescription meds if you need them. We all owe our lives to many of them.
But on the lifestyle and eating front there is lots we can do to help our health – often through feeding our gut the fibre, phenols (more below on those) and healthy oils.
So let’s look at the new paper published this week on borage and why it might be worth including the edible flowers (and even a few leaves) on your salad, should you spot them in your local restaurant or food store this year.
BORAGE - the edible flower goes mainstream
This 2025 review of Spanish edible plants, says that demand for the Mediterranean weed (amongst others) is outstripping supply and more farms are starting to cultivate it.
There just isn’t enough wild borage to go round. Currently in Spain you have to forage your own or go to a market where someone else has gathered it.
Funnily, I noticed it being cultivated in Ibiza in Spain last Spring, when I was volunteer picking and planting food on a regenerative farm there.
The farm, Can Cristofol was growing and selling the edible borage flowers to local restaurants.
The petals are popularly used in Spain in soups, omelettes, and salads - and are featured in dishes particularly in Rioja, Navarra, and Aragon.
Borage is also grown in the UK, New Zealand, and Canada for its oil.
Borago Officinalis L (the proper name!) has been eaten for its anti-inflammatory properties since ancient times.
Collecting wild food for medicinal purposes has left us detailed knowledge of its uses, apparently.
So what are the health benefits?
This is what the biologist and pharmacologist reviewers had to say:
The petals, mid ribs, and seeds – have anti-inflammatory properties. The oil, extracted from the seeds, contains γ-linolenic acid (aka GLA) a particularly well-known type of anti-inflammatory.
The flowers and leaves contain phenolic acids which are powerful antioxidants (btw these can feed good bacteria in the gut).
The leaves also contain plant chemicals such as flavonoids in particular quercetin – an antioxidant you may have heard used in supplements to dampen hay fever.
Btw Inflammation can be anything involving “itis” on the end of the word - from arthritis and dermatitis to heart disease and even some types of depression (obviously this doesn’t have an “itis” on the end). All autoimmune disorders involve chronic inflammation. So anti-inflammatory foods are worth including where you can in your diet.
A warning though. The authors note that the leaves also contain the compounds Pyrrolizidine alkaloids - which can be toxic to the liver.
So I’m thinking probably not a good idea to binge on the leaves – sounds like there is probably a sweet spot - like most foods.
Anyway, if you see the flowers in restaurants, markets, and shops this year now they are being more commercially grown - or have a chance to bung a couple of leaves in a sandwich - give them a try.
The M&S Brain Food Brain Ball (£1.50) - review
This caught my eye in M&S this week.
Having written about the latest in brain foods a few weeks ago I was keen to see if any of them had been included in this new snack.