Perilla Green (Shiso Green) is an unusual, highly aromatic Asian culinary herb with attractive crinkled green leaves. The flavour is surprisingly difficult to pin down, which is actually part of its appeal. There's something of mint and basil in there, along with citrus and warm spice, but put together it's very much its own thing. Widely used in Japanese cooking, it's well worth discovering if you've never grown it before.
📏 Height: around 80–90cm
🌿 Annual
❄️ Frost tender
🍃 Seasonal Growing Guide
Spring Sow: from March to June indoors. Soak the seeds for 4–8 hours before sowing, then surface sow onto moist seed compost, pressing them gently into the surface and covering only very lightly. Keep moist at around 20–22°C. Germination can be uneven and slow. Once seedlings are large enough to handle, pot them up and grow them on. Harden off before planting outside after all danger of frost has passed.
Summer: plant about 30cm apart in a sunny or lightly shaded position in fertile, moist but well-drained soil. Shiso is also happy growing in a container, but don't let it dry out. Pick leaves regularly from the growing tips to encourage bushier plants and plenty of fresh growth. Pinch out flower buds if you want to keep harvesting leaves for longer.
Autumn: keep picking while the plants remain productive. Plants growing in pots can be brought somewhere bright and frost-free to extend the harvest, but outside the first frosts will bring the season to an end.
🍴 Edible
Green Shiso really comes into its own when you want to use those aromatic leaves fresh. Young leaves are lovely in salads, while larger ones can be shredded over noodles, rice or tofu, used with sushi and sashimi, added to stir-fries or dipped in batter and cooked as tempura.
💡 Did you know?
Perilla seed has a natural period of dormancy, which is one reasongermination can sometimes be slow or uneven. So don't be too quick to give up on a pot that seems to be taking its time.
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