Shiso
A mint-family leaf that comes in green and deep purple forms and tastes of neither mint nor basil but of something between cinnamon, cumin and citrus. The red form colours umeboshi and makes a startling magenta drink; the green form is a culinary herb.
Identity
- Botanical name
- Perilla frutescens
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- Part used
- Leaf
- Origin
- China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia
- Drunk in
- Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam
Character
Distinctly spicy-herbal, unlike anything else in the mint family, with an anise-cinnamon lift. The red form’s drink is sharp and sweet once vinegar and sugar are added, and its colour change on acid is dramatic.
Notes: cinnamon, cumin, citrus
History
Cultivated across East Asia for well over a thousand years, with distinct Japanese, Korean and Chinese varieties that are used in quite different ways. The red form’s role in colouring pickled plums is a Japanese practice that dates to the medieval period.
How it is drunk
In Japan the red form makes shiso juice, a summer drink taken with vinegar that turns it bright pink. Korean kkaennip is a different variety eaten as a wrapped leaf rather than drunk, and Chinese zi su is used in cooking and in mixed infusions.
Production
Red shiso is harvested in early summer, and the drink is usually made from fresh leaves boiled briefly rather than from dried material. Dried shiso keeps the flavour reasonably and loses most of the colour, which is half the point of the red form.
Preparation
Infusion · Decoction
Herbal infusion (tisane)
1–2 g/100 ml · 95–100 °C · 5 min
Category-typical practice rather than a measurement for this specific botanical. Most infusions are far more tolerant of a long steep than tea is.
What gets confused
Green and red shiso, Korean perilla and the wild 'beefsteak plant' are all Perilla frutescens and taste noticeably different. The Korean variety is much larger-leaved and milder.
Common mistakes
- Substituting green for red in the drink. The colour, which is most of the appeal, comes only from the red form.
Related botanicals
- Basil — Mint-family leaves that taste of anything but mint, both carrying cinnamon and anise notes.
Comparisons
- Shiso vs basil — Two mint-family leaves that taste of anything but mint. Both carry cinnamon and anise notes, and both come in varieties different enough that the name alone tells you very little.
- Shiso vs tulsi — Two mint-family leaves that taste of anything but mint, both with religious or seasonal significance, and both quite unlike the basil most people know.
Guides
Evidence for this page
The botanical name, family and distribution above are checked against an external authority. Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton — GRIN-Global Taxonomy record— retrieved and read, not countersigned by a named human. That source covers naming and distribution only. Everything else on this page — history, culture, production, flavour, preparation and buying advice — is TeaHQ’s own synthesis with no external source behind it.
Brewing parameters here are typical practice for the category rather than measurements of this plant, and each set says so.
This page makes no safety claim. It describes what Shiso is, where it comes from and how it is prepared — not what it does to a person. The absence of a safety note here is not a statement that the plant is safe. How TeaHQ handles this.