Korean perilla

Perilla frutescens · Herb

40 pairings

Korean perilla, called kkaennip and loosely known in English as "sesame leaf," is the large, round, serrated leaf of Perilla frutescens grown as Korea's everyday wrapping green. Bigger, flatter and milder than Japanese shiso from the same species, it carries a warm, minty-anise scent with hints of licorice and cumin, and is eaten raw as a ssam wrapper for grilled meat, marinated into pickled stacks (kkaennip-jangajji), and layered into stews and pancakes. Despite the "sesame leaf" nickname it is a mint-family herb, botanically unrelated to sesame.

Picking a good onedrag

Just picked, leaves flat and suppleBlackened at the edge, wet and clinging

Shop freshThe flagged hazard is real, and it is not about the stack in your hand. Perilla ketone sits in the leaves and seeds, and what it poisons is cattle, other ruminants and horses grazing standing plants in a field — perilla mint toxicosis, an acute lung injury of pasture animals. The same leaf is an everyday raw wrapping green in Korea and a listed culinary herb, so there is no quantity to count at the table. Eat it as the herb it is: whole as ssam, blanched and dressed as namul, shredded into stew, or stacked in soy-and-chilli brine for jangajji. The seed is a separate ingredient with its own separate cautions, and this card is not about it.Everyday best

Where it came fromYour own plant, grown on from a food-grade start

The leaf faceGreen but dull, a bruised patch or a nicked edge

Stalks and the stackCut ends browning a little, leaves still peel apart clean

The foldBlade droops a little, still folds round a bite of rice

Smell at a rubbed leafClear and sweet once you rub a leaf between your fingers

What to look for, from just picked, leaves flat and supple to blackened at the edge, wet and clinging.

Preparing