[Sca-cooks] Fw: Check out iKoreaPlaza - Online Korean Supermarket Selling Kimchi, Ramen, CDs,

[Susan Fox-Davis]

ranvaig at columbus.rr.com wrote:

> I looked at the picture and Korean "sesame" leaves look an awful lot
> like Japanese "shisho" leaves, which are readily available from Japanese
> stores.  I wonder if they are really the same, and if not, then what
> is the difference?
> http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictures/p-se/perilla-frutescens-1.jpg
> http://www.ikoreaplaza.com/ikp/assets/product_images/KPSM04FP004.jpg

Yeah, those are shiso leaves alrighty.  Nothing else looks like them, and they do
taste lovely.  I've recently moved into a neighborhood with a pronounced Korean
presence, so I'll have to lead the troops to the various Korean BBQ restaurants
to see if they do the same thing, offer the leaves to wrap up the table-grilled
goodies.  Ah, the things I do for research!

In Japan, they come in both green and red.  Red shiso leaves are used as a food
coloring in pickled foods like umeboshi, the intense pickled unripe plums that
fulfill the function of a wake-up jolt and mouthwash in the mornings.  I have not
found red shiso here, which confounded my ume experiments, but did try the green
shiso and found them very nice.  In Southern California, I have =not= found them
at the widespread Kawa 99 Ranch Market chain , but at smaller "mom and pop"
Japanese markets in summer time.  Note that IKorea Plaza has them listed as "out
of stock" right now in mid-March.

Selene, Caid