The shiso is a food plant very cultivated in Asia and very used in the Japanese kitchen. Presentation:
- Shiso leaves in Japanese cuisine
- Green shiso “ao jiso
- Purple or red shiso “aka jiso
- Where to find Shiso in France ?
Shiso leaves in Japanese cuisine
In Japan, shiso accompanies many Japanese dishes, including sashimi. You will find 2 types of shiso in Japan one green and the other purple. All its parts are edible, shoots, leaves, flowers and fruits. The shiso has a particular aroma, a little bit sour and very refreshing. We love it!
Green shiso “ao jiso
Green shiso is the one most used in Japanese cuisine, its leaves are very green. It often accompanies sashimi and also soba (buckwheat noodles) as a condiment. You can also find it in fritters in the form of tempura a delight!
Purple or red shiso “aka jiso
Purple or red shiso is used as a coloring agent for making umeboshi (salted plum) as well as some tsukemono (pickled vegetable such as beni shoga). Dried and powdered, it is used as seasoning (furikake) on Japanese rice. It is also used in the composition of shichimi togarashi, a condiment of 7 spices used in Japanese cuisine. Its fresh flowers also accompany sashimi.
The season of shiso is summer but you can find it all year round in Japan.
Where to find shiso in France?
Unfortunately it is very difficult to find it in France but you can find seeds on the internet. We brought back from Japan some seeds bought in a 100 yen shop and we easily succeeded in making them germinate. Today, it flourishes indoors in a pot. It is necessary to water it regularly and to sprinkle it with water. We do not put it directly in the sun, here are some pictures of our shiso:
We usually eat the shiso leaves raw because they go well with meat, tofu, mushrooms, noodles… We also dry them in order to blend them and sprinkle them on rice as you can see on our homemade furikake recipe.