Plant · P-625

Shiso

Perilla frutescens var crispa

Shiso is a fast-growing mint-family annual whose crinkled leaves taste like nothing else - descriptions of the flavor vary wildly from cinnamon to coriander to citrus, and it is genuinely strange to a palate that has not met it before. Seedlings go into salads whole, mature leaves wrap or garnish food or fry as tempura, and the seed flavors pickles and the Japanese spice blend shichimi. It is also seriously toxic to cattle and horses, causing fatal fluid buildup in the lungs, so it has no place near pasture, hay ground or a feed line. The toxin peaks only when the plant flowers and sets seed in late summer, and mowing or pulling it before then removes the whole toxic stage for the year while leaving a full summer of leaf harvest untouched.