Purple Leaf Perilla Seeds | Shiso | (Perilla frutescens)

The herb that built Korean and Japanese cuisine. Intensely aromatic. Effortlessly productive.

Perilla frutescens, known as Perilla, Shiso, or Beefsteak Plant, is one of the most important culinary herbs in East Asian cooking, a fast-growing annual or short-lived perennial in the mint family native to the mountain regions of China, India, and Southeast Asia that has been cultivated in Japan, Korea, and China for over 2,000 years as a food, medicine, and dye plant. The purple-leaved form produces striking, deeply serrated leaves in rich burgundy to dark purple with a metallic sheen that makes it one of the most ornamentally attractive culinary herbs available in any garden. The flavor is intensely aromatic, combining notes of anise, cinnamon, citrus, and mint in a complex, distinctive profile that is unlike any other culinary herb and that defines specific flavor profiles in Japanese and Korean cuisine the way basil defines Italian cooking. If you are looking to buy Perilla seeds or grow shiso from seed, this is the herb that grows itself once you start it and produces continuously through summer.

• Intensely aromatic leaves combining anise, cinnamon, citrus, and mint in a flavor profile unique among culinary herbs
• Purple-leaved form produces striking, deeply serrated burgundy-purple leaves with metallic sheen
• Fast-growing annual that self-seeds reliably, returning year after year without replanting in warm climates
• Used in Japanese and Korean cuisine for sushi, tempura, kimchi, pickles, and teas for over 2,000 years
• Produces continuously through the growing season, with young leaves the most aromatic and flavorful

Things you probably did not know about Perilla

Perilla is the source of one of the most commercially important seed oils in East Asia. Perilla seed oil, pressed from the seeds that form in late summer, is extremely high in alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid, with a concentration exceeding that of flaxseed oil. In Korea and Japan, perilla seed oil has been used for cooking, wood preservation, lamp oil, and ink production for centuries. The combination of high omega-3 content and pleasant flavor has made perilla seed oil increasingly popular in health food markets in North America and Europe.

The plant was used to revive people poisoned by eating bad seafood in traditional Japanese and Chinese medicine. Perilla contains rosmarinic acid and other compounds with documented antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, and traditional Chinese and Japanese medical practice specifically prescribed perilla preparations for seafood poisoning and digestive complaints related to consuming raw fish. The practice of serving shiso leaves alongside sashimi in Japanese cuisine is not merely aesthetic but reflects this centuries-old understanding of the plant's protective properties.

The purple color of the leaves comes from anthocyanin pigments that are used as a natural food dye. The intensely purple leaves of Perilla frutescens produce anthocyanin pigments that have been extracted and used as a natural red-purple food dye across East Asia for centuries. The most familiar application is in the coloring of pickled Japanese plums, umeboshi, which acquire their characteristic pink-red color from the anthocyanins leached from perilla leaves included in the pickling process. The dye is natural, stable in acidic conditions, and produces colors ranging from pink through red to purple depending on pH.

It naturalizes so readily in warm climates that it is considered invasive in parts of the southeastern United States. Perilla produces enormous quantities of seeds on each plant and the seeds have dormancy mechanisms that allow them to persist in soil for multiple years, germinating sporadically rather than all at once. In warm, moist climates across the southeastern United States, Perilla has naturalized in disturbed areas, roadsides, and forest edges and is classified as an invasive weed in some states. In gardens it can be managed by removing flower heads before seed set.

Growing Details

• Botanical Name: Perilla frutescens
• Stratification: Not required, seeds need light to germinate, surface sow
• Annual in most climates, short-lived perennial in zone 9 and warmer
• USDA Zones: Annual throughout North America, overwintering perennial in zones 9 to 11
• Soil: Adaptable, prefers moist, fertile soil but grows in almost any well-drained condition
• Light: Full sun to partial shade
• Height: 2 to 4 feet
• Spread: 1 to 2 feet
• Growth Rate: Fast, reaching full size within 8 to 10 weeks from seed

Start seeds indoors 6 weeks before last frost or direct sow after frost. Harvest young leaves continuously through summer before flowering for the most intense flavor. Let a few plants go to seed and you will never need to replant.