Pantry guide
Best Shiso for home cooking
What Shiso is for, which kitchens use it, and where to find a jar worth cooking with.
Why cooks start here
Perilla: mint, basil, and cinnamon in one Japanese leaf, around sashimi or in a pickle.
In the International Cuisines books, Shiso is not decoration. Add it where the recipe puts it: early if it needs fat and time, late if it is perfume.
Taste Shiso before you empty the spoon. Fresh jars smell like themselves; tired ones smell like dust. Buy the smallest amount you will finish.