Gardening with Shiso

Since the Pandemic started in early 2020, my wife and I took up very small-scale gardening in our backyard. My wife likes growing flowers and herbs, I like growing vegetables. This year, we both experimented with growing a popular Asian herb called shiso (シソ) in Japanese.¹

Shiso, also known as Perilla frutescens, is a member of the mint family and is also related to the sesame plant. Its taste is hard to explain, but the leaves are often shredded, or cut very thin and eaten raw along side things like natto, sushi, or cooked meat. It tastes very refreshing, but also kind of strong.

Anyhow, it turns out that there are many varieties of shiso, and my wife and I each planted a different variety. My wife chose this variety from a starter:

I grew this variety, aojiso (“green shiso”) from seeds:

The plants look similar, but are somewhat different. My wife’s variety is more ruffled, and green on the underside, while mine is flatter, more heart-shaped and reddish on the underside. Her shiso plants have a lighter flavor, mine are pretty strong tasting.

Both shiso varieties seemed to struggle to germinate in the colder PNW climate, but suddenly when June came and the weather warmed up noticeably they started growing much faster. They also get thirsty quickly, so they require water often.

Once they start sprouting leaves though, they sprout a lot. We keep harvesting and the plants keep growing more. Shiso is delicious, but it’s not possible for us to finish this much.

Shiso is not something Westerners often eat, but it’s widely used in Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese cuisine, and it is fun to grow. It just needs a much warmer environment, and plenty of water.