Red Shiso

The perilla plant is just a nice garden accent, with its greenish leaves, with red undersides and purplish new leaves, even if you don't eat it but here it is useful in the cuisine.

The leaves are rubbed in salt and added to the green plum pickles to give them the deep red color that umeboshi usually have.

In the summertime, we like to boil the leaves into a syrup for a refreshing cold drink.Whenever you use shiso leaves, be sure to pluck the leaves from the stems and wash them carefully.

To make the syrup: take about a pound (500 g) of leaves and wash them well. Sprinkle them with about a tablespoon of salt and rub them gently between your hands to soften the leaves and then rinse them well. Drop these into about 6 cups of water, add 1 1/2 cups of sugar and bring it to a boil. Some people add a combination of sugar and honey and of course you can adjust the sweetness. My mother-in-law adds more sugar to make a thicker syrup. The water will turn a rather dirty brown. Boil this for 2-3 minutes and then remove it from the heat, strain the leaves and stir in a tablespoon of citric acid crystals (or lemon juice). The acid will turn the liquid into a lovely deep magenta color. Cool the syrup and then add to ice water, (1:3 or to taste) to make a brightly colored, nicely flavored summer drink. The syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for weeks, so this is a good way to preserve the shiso leaves! If you make a thicker syrup, it is tasty over shaved ice too! (kakigori)