home Calculators Borage is a storehouse of healing substances. Borage (borage)

Borage is a storehouse of healing substances. Borage (borage)

Instructions for use:

Description and useful properties

borage – annual plant, belonging to the Burachnikov family, growing in Asia Minor, European Russia, and North America. Other common names for the herb are borage or borage.

Of interest for medicine are mainly the leaves of borage, which are collected before the flower stem appears: they contain citric, malic, fatty, resinous acids, vitamin C, carotene, potassium, mucus, tannins, saponins. The leaves of the plant are rough to the touch, but taste and smell like a young cucumber. For therapeutic purposes, dry and fresh leaves borage, make juice. It is recommended to dry the grass in the sun, in a well-ventilated place, spread out in a thin layer

In some cases, borage flowers, which contain essential oils and mucous substances, are also suitable for treatment. They appear in June-July.

Borage has a sedative, mild laxative, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, diaphoretic effect, stimulates the production of the hormone adrenaline, and activates the adrenal glands.

Application

Drink to treat kidney diseases Fresh Juice cucumber grass. To do this, collect the lower leaves, wash them with water, scald them with boiling water, turn them through a meat grinder and squeeze them through a cloth. Before use, borage juice is diluted with whey or boiled water in equal parts and boiled for three minutes. You need to drink juice 3-4 times a day for 30 minutes. before meals, 3 tablespoons.

To treat heart diseases, make an infusion from the leaves and flowers of the herb: two tablespoons of crushed dry raw materials are poured into 250 ml of boiling water, cover the container, leave for five hours, and filter. It is recommended to drink the infusion 5-6 times a day, two tablespoons, 30 minutes before meals. Treatment lasts 1-2 weeks.

For depression, freshly squeezed cucumber juice helps - drink it a tablespoon three times a day.

To treat gout, lotions are made from herbs on sore joints. To do this, fresh leaves are kneaded and dry leaves are steamed with boiling water. By imposing on sore spot grass, polyethylene is placed on top, and wrapped in a warm cloth. It is better to do such compresses at night. You also need to take into account that the grass can stain bed sheets and a cloth for a compress.

Borage juice helps with neurodermatitis and skin irritations. It is diluted 1:1 with water and then the affected areas are treated.

When the menstrual cycle is disrupted, or rheumatism, dry borage helps: take one tablespoon of the raw material, pour in 250 ml of boiling water, leave until it cools, and filter. Drink the infusion one tablespoon three times a day.

It has also been noted that the use of borage helps alleviate the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.

Borage can be included in diet menu for diseases of blood vessels, gall bladder, kidneys, heart attack, cardiac neuroses: the plant tends to regulate metabolism, reduce excitability nervous system. For the same reason, the herb helps with insomnia.

At nervous disorders, inject, joint pain caused by a cold, for gastritis with low acidity, prepare the following decoction: 20 g of leaves need to be boiled for 10 minutes in 250 ml of water, over low heat. Drink a tablespoon of the decoction 3 times a day before meals.

Since borage leaves appear in early spring, they are recommended to be included regularly in your diet to reduce the severity of symptoms of vitamin deficiency.

Contraindications

Due to prolonged use of borage, liver function may be impaired.

There is an opinion that it is best to use the plant for treatment in collections, and no longer than a month.

Borage (borage, borage, borage) is a herbaceous annual flowering plant of the Borage family, growing in the countries of Southern Europe, Asia Minor, South America and North Africa. In its wild form, the grass is found in wastelands and fields in Russia, Ukraine, and the Caucasus. Medicinal properties borage has been used since ancient times in folk medicine, and thanks to the characteristic fresh cucumber smell and taste of the leaves, it is currently also cultivated as a vegetable plant.

Borage blooms in June-August, with small white or deep blue drooping flowers collected in a raceme at the top of the stem, bears fruit in July-September, the fruits are oblong-shaped, dark brown nuts. The plant can reach 60-100 cm in height, the stem is ascending or straight, hollow, pubescent and thick, branched at the top. The root of borage is taproot, the basal leaves are large, oval or elliptical, the stem leaves are sessile, oblong-ovate, covered with whitish stiff hairs.

Chemical composition

For medicinal purposes, flowers, leaves, stems, and seeds of the plant are used in fresh and dry form. The following were found in the leaves: ascorbic, citric, lactic and malic acids, as well as tannins and mucous substances, carotene, tannins, saponins, mineral salts (especially a lot of potassium). The flowers contain essential oil and mucus, the germs of the seeds contain allantoin, and the seed oil contains linolenic acid (necessary for the production of prostaglandins).

The grass is collected in the summer (during flowering), dried in the sun or in well-ventilated areas, the raw materials can be stored for no more than a year, since it quickly loses its medicinal properties.

Beneficial features

TO healing properties borage herb include: sedative, metabolic regulating, antirheumatic, diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, decongestant, expectorant, mild laxative, diuretic, enveloping.

Indications for use

Also in Ancient Rome flowers and leaves of the herb were added to soldiers’ wine to boost morale before battle, and in the Middle Ages, borage, or as it was also called “heart’s joy,” was used as a remedy to help fight melancholy and sadness.

Currently, drugs based on the plant treat damage to the liver, gallbladder, of cardio-vascular system. The herb is prescribed for lung catarrh, cough, rheumatism, gout, heart neuroses, neurasthenia, skin diseases caused by metabolic disorders.

Vitamin salads made from cucumber are recommended to prevent the development of inflammatory processes in the kidneys and intestines, reduce irritability in overly excitable people, and normalize metabolic processes. Infusions of flowers are used for colds, feverish conditions, and diseases of the urinary system. Enveloping, anti-inflammatory and mild laxative properties of the herb in alternative medicine used in treatment gastrointestinal tract. Due to its rich content of mineral salts and its ability to activate metabolism, borage is often included in various diets.

In European countries, the leaves of the plant are added to salads, vegetable soups, sauces, fish and meat dishes, marinades and pickles. Borage flowers, fresh and dried, are used in the confectionery and liquor industries.

Contraindications

Persons with liver damage should not use herbal preparations for a long time, since it contains a small amount of pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

Before using the plant, you should consult your doctor.

Homemade borage herb remedies

Infusion of leaves and flowers: 10 g of leaves and 5 g of dried flowers, infused in a sealed container for 1 hour in 200 ml boiled water. Drink 50 ml 3-4 times a day before meals to treat fever, colds, metabolic disorders, rheumatic joint pain, heart neuroses, diseases Bladder and kidneys;
Decoction of leaves: 20 g of leaves are poured into 250 ml of water and simmered over low heat for 10 minutes, then filtered. Take 1 tablespoon before meals 3 times a day for colitis, gastritis with low acidity, nervous disorders, colds, joint pain. You can also wash the skin with a decoction for rashes;
Infusion of flowers: 5 g of flowers are brewed in 200 ml of boiling water, left for 6 hours, then filtered. Drink 100 ml 4 times a day before meals for inflammation of the kidneys and bladder, gastritis with low acidity, weakened cardiac activity;
Infusion of leaves: 10-15 g of leaves are poured into 200 ml of chilled boiled water and left for 2 hours. Take 100 ml 3-4 times a day for heart neuroses, fever, inflammation of the urinary system.

In this article we will talk about what borage or borage is, how it is eaten, who it is useful for, and how to grow it correctly in your garden plot.

Borage or Borago adds flavor to various dishes when the cucumber seedlings are just planted in the greenhouse.

This spicy plant crop has become popular with the advent of healthy eating fashion.

The smell of the herb is similar to the aroma of cucumber, which is why it got its name.

The plant culture is actively growing and seedlings can be seen after just one and a half to two weeks, and after 30 days you can already crumble the vitamin-enriched greens into okroshka, snack bars and salad dishes.

Borage - to brief description

Borago (Borago officinalis) is an annual plant that is part of the borage family.

Grass sprang up in the area Mediterranean Sea.

The plant culture looks very decorative, which is also why it is planted in the country.

The borage has spectacular silver-green foliage with moss:

rough;
fleshy;
large.

The stem part is erect, stretches up to 600 mm and even up to a meter.

The shoots are spreading on the side.

Root system with many branches.

The greenery has soft bluish flowers with a pinkish tint, pubescent along the edges with long whitish bristles.

During the flowering period, the mini-bush is completely shrouded in flowers.

It blooms in early summer and provides color until September.

Why is borage needed?

This green is a storehouse of ascorbic acid.

There is 3 times more vitamin C in the grass than in cucumber fruits! The foliage of this plant crop is rich in:

Mineral salts.
Vitamins.
Valuable organic acids.
Tannins.
Useful mucus.

For medicinal needs, the plant crop is harvested during the flowering period: the stems are dried separately, the flowers separately.

The collected raw materials are dried in a shady place, naturally, with good ventilation. The medicine is used to strengthen the central nervous system; decoctions and infusions of cucumber herb eliminate stress within the body and relieve irritability.

The product also gently relaxes and eliminates inflammatory processes. To make an infusion medicinal plant, you need to use dry foliage.

According to the traditional ancient recipe, the medicine is made as follows:

A spoonful of dried herbs or a small spoonful of dried flowers should be brewed with 200 ml of boiling water.
Infuse the composition in a closed container wrapped in a blanket for 5 hours (today you can use a thermal mug).
Filter, add granulated sugar to taste, and drink 2 tablespoons for 5 days in a row.

The medicine will help relieve swelling, eliminate inflammatory process in a paired organ and will alleviate the human condition with rheumatism.

The medicine is a diuretic and diaphoretic, it starts the functioning of the adrenal glands.

The drug also restores metabolic processes in the body, helps with gout, pathologies skin and rheumatism of the joints.

Use in cooking

Young borage greens have an aroma fresh cucumber and a slightly salty taste.

It goes great with almost any green salad dish:

traditional with tomatoes and peppers;
okroshka;
the vinaigrette.

However, before using young greens for food, you should crush the foliage with a rolling pin in a wooden mortar or chop it into very fine strips, since the thorns must be removed.

The foliage of borage does not tolerate heat treatment.

It is used exclusively in cold dishes.

The plant's flowers are also used for food; they are delicate and have a pale blue hue.

Homemade aromatic liqueurs are prepared using flowers.

Even a beginner can grow borage

IN autumn period When digging up a dacha area, you need to add superphosphate (about 25 grams per 1 sq.m.) and potassium salt (15 grams per 1 sq.m.) to the soil.

In spring, the soil is fed with nitrogenous compounds (ammonium nitrate is an excellent solution) at a rate of 15 grams. per 1 sq.m.

Sow borage in early spring, in March, placing the seeds to a depth of approximately 20 mm.

If young grass needs to be grown earlier, you can cover the plantings with film.

Sow borage in rows (the optimal number of seeds is 3-6 grams per square) with an interval of approximately 400 mm. Shoots can be seen in a week or two.

To collect fresh nutritious grass before frost, borage is sown again at the end of summer.

Many summer residents sow this plant crop “before winter.”

Sowing in 2-3 stages is justified, since borage grows very quickly:

stretches out;
foliage becomes rough;
taste qualities are lost.

The plant is suitable as a herb for growing at home.

When grown on a windowsill, borage produces fresh greenberries all year round: to do this, you need to wait two weeks between planting seeds.

To obtain the product as quickly as possible, the bed should be made in the sun, and for consumption in summer period- in the shadow.

Sowing before winter tolerates cold well, as the plant is frost-resistant. IN spring days Borago will delight you with abundant shoots.

Watering and feeding

Caring for borage is quite simple. This:

Timely and not too abundant watering.
Loosening the soil.
Thinning beds.

Those specimens that are grown for greenery must be thinned out, leaving a distance of 100 mm between the mini-bushes. If the crop goes to seed, you need to leave a distance of 35-60 mm. Watering cannot be ignored, otherwise the foliage will lose its fleshiness and juiciness.

It should be fed with organic compounds before color begins.

You can use mullein infusion. Borage grass is strong and strong, almost does not get sick.

Among the insects you need to be wary of are burdock caterpillars and oxalum lancet.

However, these pests attack seedlings quite infrequently.

Borago harvest

The first leaves can be collected 28 days after germination of the seedlings.

Specimens with cotyledons and two true leaves (50-70 mm) are harvested completely, like spinach, they are the most.

Many summer residents plant cucumber grass in their plots in order to get a harvest of tasty greens in early spring. It has a pleasant cucumber smell and can even replace this vegetable in okroshka and salads. The homeland of the plant, which is also called borage, borage, borage, is Asia Minor and the African coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Nowadays, borage is widely distributed throughout the world, because, in addition to its excellent taste, it has a lot of healing properties and is recognized as a medicinal plant.

Borage - description

Borage (borage) is a herbaceous biennial of the Borage family. This ornamental, salad and pharmaceutical plant has a thick, branched stem at the top, reaching 25-60 cm in height. The stem has bristly-hairy pubescence, the leaves of the plant are entire, alternate, drooping with stiff hairs. The leaves are finely toothed along the edges and are quite fleshy. The lower leaves are ovate, large, on long petioles, the upper leaves are smaller, without petioles, oblong-ovate.

The flowers of borage are blue in color, large, located in corymbose-paniculate inflorescences at the ends of the stems. The plant is an excellent honey plant, blooms by May and blooms until August. The fruits ripen in July-September. These are dark brown oblong nuts. In Asian countries and Russia, the plant is often considered a weed, while in Europe it is cultivated for medicinal purposes and as a honey plant. Growing cucumber grass is very simple - it is unpretentious, care comes down to regular watering, but even without this the plant will feel great and grow profusely.

Composition and properties of borage

Grass and other parts of the plant, like , can be eaten - they do not contain toxic and toxic substances, irritating gastrointestinal components. IN large quantities the herbaceous part contains vitamin C, potassium, carotene, retinol, a number of macro- and microelements (including lithium, phosphorus, calcium).

Other useful material in borage:

Plant-based products have a lot of healing properties. They soothe, relax, envelop, relieve inflammation, activate the adrenal glands, and stimulate the production of adrenaline. Others beneficial features– diuretic, diaphoretic, antirheumatic, regulatory.

Medicinal uses of borage

It will not be possible to find pharmaceutical preparations with borage - the plant is official medicine not used. But traditional healers It is recommended to use it at the most various diseases. The plant quickly relieves pain of any origin, so it can be taken orally for rheumatism, arthrosis and pain in the spine, muscles, and gout.

Borago is recommended in treatment inflammatory diseases kidneys, with damage to the ureters and bladder, with renal and cardiac edema. With urolithiasis and cholelithiasis borage will bring out small stones and sand. For pregnant women, the plant will help with toxicosis - consumption of it in food helps eliminate nausea and stop vomiting. It is useful to drink infusions and decoctions of borage leaves and flowers when peptic ulcer stomach, gastritis, hypovitaminosis, duodenitis.

In the treatment of diseases of the nervous system, borage has also found its use. It relieves depression, melancholy, regulates the release of hormones during stress and extinguishes the harmful effects nervous overstrain. In parallel, the grass has sedative effect, therefore indicated for increased nervous excitability and neuroses, it reduces the symptoms of neurocirculatory dystonia.

Other uses of borage herb:

Reduced asthenia.
Help with rhinitis, pharyngitis, sore throat, flu, ARVI, sinusitis, laryngitis.
Relieving inflammation and pain in prostatitis.
Treatment of chronic heart failure, angina pectoris, myocardial ischemia.
Reduction of feverish conditions.
Treatment of insomnia.
Therapy skin diseases, especially, atopic dermatitis, neurodermatitis, eczema.
Maintenance normal operation immune system.
Regulation of metabolic processes.
Strengthening the production of joy hormones, normalizing the production of other hormones.

Nutritional properties of the plant

Young leaves of borage smell fresh, their taste is also fresh, pleasant, reminiscent of cucumbers with a slight “tint” of green onions. The leaves can be eaten fresh, without heat treatment - they are an excellent substitute for cucumbers in vinaigrettes, salads, okroshka, and cold soups. The leaves are also added to sauces, soups, and vegetable side dishes. They are perfect as a seasoning for meat, fish, and poultry. You can simply fry borage in oil - you will get a very tasty and original dish.

Even borage flowers are eaten - mainly in jam or in the form of candied fruits. You can also make tinctures, wines, kvass, beer, fruit drinks with honey, and other berries from flowers. Apple and other jelly are very tasty with the addition of borage flowers. This raw material is actively used in the alcoholic beverage industry and in the confectionery industry. The roots are added to cheeses, sour cream, cottage cheese, and also as a flavoring to vinegar, beer, and wine.

Contraindications to treatment and use of borage

Contraindications include only individual intolerance, allergies to the plant, although these are rare. You can eat borage in moderation during lactation and pregnancy, but course treatment in this case is unacceptable. Experts note that if therapy with borage is too long, liver activity may be disrupted, so courses should not last more than a month.

Traditional medicine recipes with borage

Grass, flowers, and plant seeds are subject to harvesting. Seeds are collected before they fall off, flowers - during the flowering period, leaves - without restrictions. Dry the raw materials by laying them out in a well-ventilated place away from direct sunlight. Some recipes also involve borage roots - they are dug in the fall, washed, cut into pieces and air dried.

For pyelonephritis

Rinse fresh leaves of the plant, preferably cut closer to the ground. Then scald the leaves with boiling water, grind through a meat grinder, and squeeze out the juice through cheesecloth. Immediately before consumption, dilute the juice with whey 1:1, take the drink three times a day, 3 tablespoons, half an hour before meals. Course – 7 days.

For coronary heart disease

Mix borage flowers and leaves in equal parts, brew 2 tablespoons of the raw material with 250 ml of boiling water. Close the container tightly with a lid, leave for 5 hours, then filter. Take 2 tablespoons of infusion five times a day, treat before meals - half an hour. Duration of therapy is 2 weeks.

From excessive nervous excitability

Brew 400 ml of boiling water for a tablespoon of borage roots and leaves, leave in a thermos for 2 hours. Take small sips throughout the day, the total daily dose of infusion is 200 ml. The course is arbitrary, usually 7-10 days.

For gastritis with low acidity

Pour 5 g of dried borage flowers into 200 ml of boiling water, leave for 6 hours, filter. Take 100 ml of the product four times a day immediately before meals. Course – 10-14 days.

For skin rash

If a rash of any origin occurs, you can wash the skin three times a day with a decoction of borage. Pour 20 g of plant leaves into 200 ml of boiling water, cook in a bathhouse for 15 minutes, then cool in a natural way. The course of treatment is arbitrary - until the skin is cleared of the rash.

For depression

Any diseases accompanied depressive states, can be treated with borage juice. Fresh grass (leaves, flowers, stems) must be washed well, shake off the water, and grind the raw material in a meat grinder. Squeeze out the juice using gauze, add honey to taste. Drink a third of a glass of juice in the morning after breakfast and before bed for 2 weeks.

For rheumatism

Brew 10 g of herbs and flowers of the plant with a glass of boiling water, leave for 5 hours, then add a teaspoon of sugar. Drink 2 tablespoons of the product twice a day for a course of 21 days.

For gout

Mash fresh borage leaves with your hands until the juice releases, and steam the dry leaves with boiling water. Apply the plant to the painful area of the body, apply polyethylene on top, and secure the compress with a warm cloth. Leave the compress on all night. Apply this type treatment every night at least 7 times.

From PMS

With severe premenstrual syndrome you need to prepare an infusion of the plant (see recipe “For increased nervous excitability”), take a tablespoon three times a day from the middle menstrual cycle and before the onset of menstruation.

For vitamin deficiency

Fresh borage leaves, which appear in the spring, should be included in the menu at least once a day, 50-100 g each. The duration of such “therapy” is a month.

For tumors

At oncological diseases to reduce intoxication, you need to combine equally crushed flowers and leaves of borage and a pulp of leaves white cabbage. Combine the collection with an equal amount of honey. Drink a tablespoon four times a day before meals in long courses.

Borage is an unusually pretty plant belonging to the borage family. People also call it a gimlet. Many amateurs cultivate Borago in their gardens in order to obtain early greenery. The smell and taste of this herb are identical to cucumbers. This is where its name came from: borage. Borage is famous as an excellent honey plant; it is used in folk medicine and culinary technologies. The beneficial properties and contraindications of borage will be discussed further.

Distribution area

Southern Europe is considered the birthplace of wild forms of borage. But in our time, specimens of this plant are discovered in the north of the African continent, in the countries of the Mediterranean basin, South America, Asia Minor and Western Asia. As a cultivated plant, it is cultivated throughout Europe and the USA. In Russia, wild forms of borage are found in certain areas of the European part, mainly in the south of the country, where it grows as a common weed.

Biological features

The borage, a photo of which is in the article, is cross-pollinating, quite cold-resistant, but in the hot summer season its leaves become coarser and a peduncle begins to form. Prefers neutral or slightly acidic soils of light mechanical composition. The length of the growing season is 70-80 days. Borage usually grows up to 60-80 cm, on thick stems that are hollow inside. The stem is well branched at the top. Those leaves that are formed in the lower tier are oval in appearance, long petiole and large in size. On the upper tier, smaller leaves are formed, oblong in shape, sessile, covered with hard white pubescence.

Borage inflorescences

The flowering stage extends from mid-summer to August inclusive. And fruiting occurs from July to September. The inflorescence is represented by a panicle, which contains single gimlet flowers on long stalks. The flowers are large, star-shaped, blue or blue, with anthers purple. Each single flower accumulates up to 5-12 mg of nectar. From the ovary of the flowers a fruit is formed - a dark brown nut.

Borage seeds

Borago seeds are quite large, easily crumbling nuts, and remain viable for 2-3 years. The fruit is up to 5 mm long, ribbed and unequal in shape.

Varietal composition

This crop does not have generally accepted domestic or foreign zoned varieties. Each locality uses its own varietal lines and populations.

Borage agricultural technology

Cultural forms of borage are sown in spring or before winter, before frost arrives. In subsequent years, the grass can reproduce by self-sowing. When sowing, the following scheme is used: the width between the rows is 30 cm and the sowing step between plants in the row is 10 cm. The seeds are buried 2 cm into the soil. On the tenth day, shoots appear from the seeds.

Plant care

In the phase of the first true leaf, plants should be thinned out, leaving 9-10 cm between them. During the growing season, the row spacing should be loosened and weeded three times. And in dry summer water several times. Soil moisture must be constantly maintained at 80% HB. Borage responds very well to feeding with organic and mineral fertilizers. The first fertilizing should be done with urea during the period of plant thinning. To do this, dissolve 12 grams of urea in a bucket of water and feed the plant with this solution. The second feeding can be done 25 days after the first. Here it is appropriate to use a solution of mullein in a ratio of 1:5 with water.

Cleaning

The collection of leaves begins when they are at a young age, even before the appearance of the peduncle. Leaves are not taken from plants left for seeds. When the seed pods turn brown, the stems are cut off at the bottom of the inflorescences. From one square meter you can get 20 grams of seeds and 600 grams of greens. Borage can be grown on a windowsill. The leaves are periodically cut off and dried in the shade.

Chemical composition

The beneficial properties of borage are due to the rich content of useful chemical organic and inorganic components that can have a healing effect on people's health. Available in vegetative mass and seeds:

essential oils;
mucous compounds;
substances from the tannin group;
silicon;
compounds from the group of saponins;
resin compounds;
vitamin C;
zinc;
potassium;
carotene;
Apple acid;
calcium;
choline;
iron;
lemon acid and other equally valuable substances.

Reserves found in flowers essential oil. The oil produced from the seeds is also very valuable. It consists of 20-27% gamma-linolenic acid, used in pharmacology. In addition, the oil contains alpha-linolenic acid, the presence of which reaches 10%. In its composition and properties it is very similar to primrose oil. The presence of essential oil in borage varies between 0.01-0.13%. Moreover, over time, the plant accumulates this product, so there is more oil in old leaves than in young ones. This oil contains 23 volatile compounds, of which aldehydes, as well as neadcane, tetracosane and heptacosane, are especially valuable.

Useful qualities

The beneficial properties of borage (borage, a photo of which you can see in the article) have been studied since ancient times. Great importance have irreplaceable fatty acid, present in the plant. They are needed to the human body to save vitality and skin health.

If these substances are lacking in the body, mood may suddenly drop, immunity may weaken, inflammation of organs and weakening of the heart may develop. Essential fatty acids are responsible for the condition of nails and hair. They are especially necessary for children.

Potassium found in the plant facilitates the removal of water from the body, and with it toxic compounds. Freshly squeezed borage juice can consist of a third of potassium, but dried leaves contain only 3 percent. Choline has a beneficial effect on the glands that produce sweat, which helps regulate the body's thermoregulation. Therefore, the plant is used for coughs, colds and fever. A nicotinic acid has a calming effect on the body, removes anxiety and nervousness.

Residents Western countries They usually eat young borage leaves, adding them to various dishes. Fresh flowers placed in glasses with drinks or wine, and the candied inflorescences are eaten for dessert. The formed leaves can be stewed and used in marinades and pickles. Borage inflorescences are used industrially in the production of confectionery products and cognac.

When should borage be used?

Modern healers recommend using borage as an anti-inflammatory, expectorant, laxative and enveloping agent to cure fever, gastrointestinal inflammation, colds, and constipation. As a diuretic medicine, borage is practiced to treat edema, kidney diseases, bladder and urinary ducts. To do this, its infusions are taken orally. Compresses using borage leaves have an antirheumatic and analgesic effect in the treatment of joint and muscle pain, as well as gout. Borage seeds boiled in grape wine are prescribed to increase mothers' lactation.

Borago, or borage (photo, useful properties - in the article), also has a calming property, is widely used in homeopathy, in the treatment of depression, neurasthenia and sleep disorders. Decoctions of its leaves are used to treat skin rashes, eczema and other skin diseases. Mineral salts of borage improve metabolism, so it is included in multi-component diets.

Alternative medicine advises turning to borage for the following diseases:

asthenia;
rheumatic diseases;
joint pain;
insomnia;
gout;
inflammation of the bladder and kidneys;
colitis;
gastritis;
fever;
constipation;
neurasthenia;
swelling;
colds;
cardiac neuroses;
skin diseases.

But before you decide to take medications made from borage, you should consult your doctor, as self-medication can only worsen the situation. Therapy traditional methods is effective only in combination with the main drug treatment and under the supervision of a specialist.

Contraindications

Cucumber has few contraindications. Its main problem is the insignificant presence of the alkaloid pyrrolizidine, known for its ability to cause liver cancer. Therefore, borage should not be consumed for food or for treatment for more than 30 days in a row. It is also prohibited to take borage together with a group of drugs related to anticoagulants. U separate category In persons, borage can cause convulsions, pain in the head, nausea or bloating. Usually all these ailments have a mild manifestation. The hairs present on the stem and leaves are very hard and can irritate sensitive skin. Therefore, it is better to wear gloves during the collection process.

The use of borage by pregnant or nursing mothers is highly undesirable. Despite the fact that since ancient times it has always been used as a means of improving lactation, this ban is due to the lack of scientific information about the effects of this plant on the body of women at this time.

It is absolutely forbidden to use grass for people suffering from epileptic seizures, schizophrenic disorders, seizures or taking the drug "Phenothiazine". It is better to take decoctions and infusions of borage herbal infusions and consult your doctor before doing this. Some believe that gamma-linolenic acid present in the plant may promote growth and reproduction cancer cells. However, this has not yet been proven by anyone.

Preparation of infusions and decoctions

Before preparing borage juice, fresh leaves of the lower tier should first be thoroughly washed with running water, scalded with boiling water, and then passed through a meat grinder.

We squeeze the resulting mass through two layers of gauze and obtain borage cell juice. Dilute the squeezed juice with water in a 1:1 ratio and boil over low heat for 4 minutes. After this, all that remains is to cool and strain the broth, and it is ready for use. The decoction should be taken orally three times a day, immediately after meals, 2 tablespoons. In some cases, for skin diseases, it can be practiced for external use.

A healing infusion is also prepared from borage. For this purpose, take 2 tablespoons of dried and crushed leaves or 1 tablespoon of dried flowers and pour 200 ml of boiling water over them. The mixture, steeped for two hours, is filtered and 1 tbsp is administered orally three times a day. spoon, for diseases of muscles and joints, as well as for gout or rheumatism.

To cure gastritis and kidney inflammation, as well as normalize cardiac activity, you need to consume 100 grams of borage infusion three times a day, when preparing it 1 tbsp. a spoonful of flowers was poured with boiling water in an amount of 200 ml and infused for 6 hours.