Are shiso stems edible?

In Asia, every part of the shiso plant is used in the kitchen. Seedlings are consumed raw in salads and are used to wrap sashimi. Flowering shoots are eaten fresh or cooked.

oregonlive.com - Shiso will satisfy a taste for red edibles - oregonlive.com

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Green is the color of an edible spring garden. But perhaps you have a taste for other colors. Red foliage is relatively rare in the edible plot, found in lettuces, mustards and a few others. But another choice is shiso (

Perilla frutescen

s).

Shiso is an attractive and varied herb that attracts devotees even in its green forms. This half-hardy annual from Southeast Asia is related to basil. A fast grower, it has complex, spicy flavors. Cultivars vary enough in size, color, fragrance and flavor to make it worth growing several. Shiso is a good border plant. In its red form, it contrasts nicely with whites, blues and grays, or pair it with lavender. Green forms are fine companion plants with nasturtiums or your favorite cottage pinks (

Dianthus

).

Shiso makes a good container plant, blending well with other herbs or with lettuce and other salad greens. My chickens and ducks are crazy about shiso. I kind of think of it as pre-seasoning. In Asia, every part of the shiso plant is used in the kitchen. Seedlings are consumed raw in salads and are used to wrap sashimi. Flowering shoots are eaten fresh or cooked. Unopened clusters of flowers are used as seasoning in soups, salads and with tofu, while mature flowers are fried. Red varieties taste milder and have an anise-mint flavor. The leaves can be dried and sprinkled over rice or used fresh to add flavor and color to canned fruit, pickles and tempura. Flowers of green varieties produce a stronger, though meadowlike, vegetal flavor. The leaves yield the fragrance of cinnamon and mint and taste of ginger. Green shiso leaves, fresh or dried, make a fine tea that is stronger -- though less beautiful -- than that made from red leaves. Most forms of this bushy, erect plant grow 18 inches tall, occasionally to 24 inches. Leaves are broadly ovate and toothed, or in some cultivars more heavily cut along the margins. Attractive flower spikes of cream or purple appear in summer. Shiso is easy to grow, with harvest just 45 days from planting outdoors. Just treat it like basil. The site should be well-drained in full sun. Don't direct-seed or plant starts or transplants into the garden until about the first week of June. However, if starting indoors from seed, sow in April and plant out after all chance of frost is past. Plant on 10- to 12-inch centers. When sowing indoors, germination rates are sometimes less than 50 percent, even when the optimal germination temperature of 70 to 80 degrees is used. Try again with any remaining seeds, but chill them in a refrigerator at 41 degrees for three days before sowing. Shiso is a "cut and come again" plant, so it can be harvested more than once a season by cutting high enough to allow grow-back.

I have never encountered disease or pests in shiso.

SHISO VARIETIES

Look for aromatic flatleaf, green cumin and lemon shiso, along with the following:

Curled/curly.

Green/Ao shiso.

Red/Aka shiso/crispy.

-- Vern Nelson

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What is shiso in ramen?

americastestkitchen.com - What Is Shiso and How Do I Use It? | Cook's Illustrated

Shiso, the aromatic heart-shaped leaf with a saw-toothed edge, is probably most familiar to Americans as a sushi garnish. But this relative of mint and basil, available at farmers’ markets and Asian groceries, is employed in a number of Asian cuisines for more than its attractive appearance. Botanically known as Perilla frutescens var. crispa, it is often tucked into Vietnamese summer rolls or shredded and added to cold noodle salads. The two common varieties of shiso are green and reddish-purple in color. We found the former to have a minty, bitter, lemony flavor with a faintly sweet finish. The latter variety is milder in flavor, though some tasters found it extremely bitter (the purple color is due to a compound called anthocyanin to which some people are more sensitive than others; it is thought to be the cause of the leaf’s bitter taste). Both the red and green leaves are slightly astringent. In addition to its traditional uses, we liked shiso tossed into salads as we would herbs such as mint or basil. However, larger leaves can be tough, so make sure to tear or shred them first. Shiso can also be used in cooked applications, such as fried rice or ramen, or fried whole and used as a garnish. Even a small amount of heat will cause the leaves to brown slightly, but their flavor will be preserved as long as you add them toward the end of cooking.

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