Perilla frutescens Seeds | Purple Perilla
LATIN NAME: Perilla frutescens
COMMON NAME: Purple Perilla, Shiso, Zi Su
Plant Profile
Purple perilla carries two chemical signatures. The deep colour comes from anthocyanin pigments, chiefly cyanidin-3-glucoside, known in the plant as shisonin, stacked in the leaf and stem. The aroma, by contrast, comes from perillaldehyde, the aldehyde that gives the green leaf its unmistakable, almost fruity-mint smell. One pigment and one aldehyde therefore set perilla apart from every other leafy mint in the kitchen.
The plant is an aromatic annual with the square stem of the mint family and opposite, broad, ovate, deeply toothed and often ruffled leaves. The purple form builds anthocyanin through the whole blade and vein, while the green form stays clear and carries more perillaldehyde. Both throw small two-lipped white flowers in upright one-sided spikes late in the season.
Japanese cooks use the green, perillaldehyde-rich leaf, while the red form colours pickles and umeboshi. The Korean perilla leaf is the one used in sesame-oil wraps and kimchi. The chemistry tracks the colour, so the cook picks the form by the dish, not by guess or habit.
The small nutlets press to perilla oil, notable for a high share of alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid also found in flax. This makes the seed a traditional oil crop across East Asia, used as a finishing oil rather than a frying oil because of its delicate profile.
Shoot culture fixes the red and green forms so seed batches stay true, and breeders select for larger, less ruffled leaves where the market wants a smooth wrap leaf for rolling.
Science & Biotechnology
Teams study perillaldehyde biosynthesis to lift the aromatic fraction and probe its antimicrobial and anti-allergic activity. In parallel, the anthocyanin shisonin is a model for stable red plant pigments used in natural colourants for food and drink.
Like many Lamiaceae herbs, perilla accumulates rosmarinic acid, a phenolic with strong antioxidant action. Extracts are screened for food-preservation use and for calming and airway-support studies in traditional medicine lines across the region.
Uses & Benefits
In Japan the leaf wraps sushi and tucks into tempura; in Korea it layers into grilled-meat wraps with sesame; in China the leaf and seed appear in traditional preparations for the chest and stomach. The red form dyes and scents pickled plums, turning them pink through the brine.
Perilla oil dresses noodles and vegetables, and the toasted seed adds crunch to rice. Fresh leaves also garnish cold plates, where the perillaldehyde aroma is the point and the colour is the frame.
Growing from Seed
Sow the fine seed on a moist, fine mix and press it in without deep cover, keeping it bright and warm at about 18 to 22 degrees. Transplant to the garden when seedlings carry four to six true leaves, spacing them 30 centimetres so air moves through the canopy.
Perilla wants sun to light shade and a fertile, well-drained soil kept evenly moist. Pinch the tips to branch the plant and to slow the flower spikes that toughen the leaves. In cool districts a pot that follows the sun works best for a long pick.
Pick leaves young for tenderness, and let a few spikes dry if you wish to keep seed. The plant self-sows readily, so cut spent spikes to contain it and keep the bed tidy through the season.
Gardeners meet perilla as either the crinkled, ruffled-leaf crispa type or the flatter, broader frutescens type, with colour running from deep purple through bronze to full green. The form drives both the look on the plate and the scent in the jar, so pick by the dish: ruffled purple for pickle colour, smooth green for wrap leaves.
Cut leaves wilt fast because of their thin blade, so harvest in the cool of the morning and use within a few hours, or layer them with salt and keep them chilled. The seed heads, once dry, thresh easily and store for the next sowing without loss of viability through a normal winter.
Our Take
Grow purple perilla once and you will keep a patch for the colour alone.
The purple form also rewards careful observation of leaf color: strong light deepens anthocyanin expression, while crowded, shaded growth often produces greener foliage. Remove flower spikes only when saving leaves is the priority; allow selected plants to flower when collecting seed for the next generation.
Related Reading
Readers interested in Purple Perilla frequently explore these as well: