Perilla

[bazfaz]

I like to grow something new every year. This year it is Perilla. This looks (from the photos on google) an attractive plant with reddish-purple leaves. It grows fairly tall though as yet the plants are about the size of my thumbnail.

It is an ingredient in Asian food (curiously the US common name for it is beefsteak plant which is nonsensical). Japan and Korea are big users. But it is also used in Vietnam and Hunnan.

Anybody here have any experience of perilla?

[mockchoc]

I do buy only when I did a Japanese cooking class back home.

It is also called shiso. We used them in sushi or maki.

[Deleted]

Baz, there is a picture and mention of this plant and its uses down in the garden section of the board under the thread Useful Plants with Ornamental Possibilities,reply #1.

[bazfaz]

Thanks, Casimira, I'll have a look.

[bazfaz]

It certainly is a gorgeous looking plant. What fruits do you eat it with?

[Deleted]

It is really good with various melons,the flowers are also good to use in fish dishes and soups.
Try to remember to pinch the new leaves at the top to allow it to get bushy. Very much like a coleus which many people often confuse it with.