By late October my potted shiso plants are several feet tall. Their ruffled green and purple leaves are sprinkled with flower spikes.
Photography by Marie Viljoen for Gardenista.
The aroma and flavor have been compared with everything from anise to cinnamon and cloves. The purple leaves are far more rose-y in smell than the green, which lean toward the quinces and perhaps a little mint.
Shiso is the Japanese name for a specific variety of perilla: Perilla frutescens var.
I first encountered shiso, as many diners do, in a Japanese restaurant. The same night I found Shiso Perilla Green and Red Seeds ($1.99 per packet) at Botanical Interests.
Shiso is very slow to start in cool weather. By October’s end I make sure to cut most of the flowers rather than let them set seed, as various perillas have demonstrated their invasive potential.
As well as it pairs with sushi, shiso is also a refreshing foil for highly seasoned food. After it rests, the meat is sliced from the bones and each bite is wrapped in a shiso leaf.
Another way we eat it is as a wrapper for Vietnamese-inspired fillings where lemongrass, fish sauce, tamarind, peanuts, and garlic send the umami into the stratosphere.
A simple, messy meal of shrimp grilled with garlic and lime juice, and drizzled with a quick raw sauce of chopped shiso, mint, more lime, sugar and salt is stickily divine.
Taking a cue from the delicious (but done-to-death) mojito, I combine another ephemeral seasonal pleasure–Muscat grapes–with crushed shiso and rum.
In a cocktail shaker, aggressively muddle the grapes (crush them) with the sugar. Add the rum, lime juice, and ice cubes.
Shisito