Salad burnet

Salad burnet (sanguisorba minor) is a European herb used typically grown in family gardens for use in salads and for flavoring beverages.  The plant bears brown or dark crimson flowers.  The name burnet was derived from the French word brunette.  The herb has a flavor similar to cucumber. Use of salad burnet as a salad herb dates back to Greek times.

Both the flowers and leaves of burnet are edible.  The flowers are fun to float in drinks. You can add the chopped leaves in to softened butter to make a fresh herb butter to melt atop delicate fish or even on fresh steamed vegetables. 

Salad burnet is hard to substitute. If you don't have it your best bet is to use fresh borage leaves or flowers. You can sometimes find either or both of these in the spring and summer in your local farmer's market.