Borage. An herbaceous perennial plant with brilliant, star-like, blue flowers and blue green leaves used in salads, drinks, soups and stews, chopped into cream cheese, mayonnaise or egg salad, but care must be taken to use only the smallest leaves and chop very finely, or the hairs will irritate. The leaves have a slight flavour of cucumber and can be cooked in the same way as spinach while the flowers can be crystallised or used in fritters. It is sometimes used to flavour pastry dough. The plant is Mediterranean in origin and thrives in sunshine and warmth.
In cooking, acacia generally refers to the yellow blossoms of the acacia tree, which may be made into fritters. An extract is also a food additive known as gum arabic, used for emulsifying, stabilising and thickening. The leaves of Acacia pennata are sour leaves used in omelettes, curries, soups and stir fries in the cooking of the Far East.
Horse mushroom. Edible, and very delicious, but easily mistaken for other less palatable or even poisonous mushrooms.
Akevitt means "water of life." Eau-de-vie. Broadly applied to all the principal indigenous spirits of the Scandinavian countries. This is a colourless, grain or potato based spirit. The best known brand in the world is Danish, but it is produced throughout Scandinavia. It is flavoured with cumin and aniseed, caraway seeds or fennel. It should be served really very cold and is often drunk with beer before or after a meal. It is also drunk during a meal, particularly an open sandwich meal which includes pickled herrings – traditionally a shot of aquavit with each different type – or when a particular mature cheese, gammel ole, is offered.
