Perilla: A weed to know
This time of year, one annual weed starts to dominate the landscape in my backyard, in open woods, and all about town. It stays out of the limelight. There are no showy flowers, it’s only about a foot tall and it’s vegetation looks like, well, vegetation. About the only distinguishing feature comes with stepping on the plant or weed-eating it – the fragrance, which is like a peculiar brand of oil paint, somehow familiar and exotic at the same time. It is known as Perilla (Perilla frutescens), also beefsteak plant, wild basil, summer coleus, and rattlesnake weed.
If Japanese cuisine is to your liking, you may know it as shiso, which is available from nurseries, usually in a purple-leaf form. Localized as an Ozark weed, this annual member of the mint family has a global reach.
Think of it as the Asian equivalent of parsley as a garnish. It you go to Japan, the fresh leaves are commonly seen decorating a plate. The flavor and fragrance – piquant, oily, and thick, with an overtone that nips the nose – can only be described as that of perilla. In Korea the leaves are seen in every market. Any Korean grocery, including those in Northwest Arkansas, offer carefully selected whole perilla leaves preserved in oil and neatly packed in sardine cans. Believe me, those preserved perilla leaves are certainly an acquired taste. Also used in Korean cuisine as a garnish and flavoring, fresh bunches of the leaves are sold as a vegetable.
The rattling sound of a walk through a patch of dried perilla gone-to-seed on any old abandoned Ozark road has earned it the name rattlesnake weed. In China the juice of the fresh leaves is sipped and the crush leaves are used as a poultice to treat snakebites.
In Asia it is a delicate condiment, with only a small amount consumed at a time. Don’t think of this plant as an “all you can eat” vegetable, but not to worry. The odd flavor will deter most Western palates from consuming more than a nibble of this Asian vegetable, which in the Ozarks is demoted to weed. It is curious how bias and prejudice define a plant depending upon cultural perspective.