Red shiso

Shiso rouge (aka-jiso)

What it is

The purple is shisonin, an anthocyanin that sits dull violet until it meets acid — dropped into the brine of salting plums it flares scarlet, and that reaction is what colours umeboshi. Dried and ground with salt the same leaf becomes yukari, a name that traces back to an old poetic word for the colour purple.

In the kitchen

Rub the leaves hard with salt and throw away the first two lots of black juice they give up — that bitter liquid is what ruins a jar of umeboshi. Only then stir them into the plum vinegar.

Goes with

Umeboshi Umezu Rice Salt Ginger Cucumber Apricot

Same species

Perilla seed powder Hojiso (shiso flower spikes) Kkaennip (Korean perilla leaf) Kkaennip-jangajji Perilla oil Perilla seed

Also used with

Shibazuke

In season alongside

Angelica Basil Hoja santa Pélardon Pouligny-Saint-Pierre Purple basil

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