Korean perilla
Perilla frutescens · Herb
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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 freshEveryday bestThe 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.
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