Other common names: English: beefsteak plant, Chinese basil, perilla mint, purple mint, rattlesnake weed, shiso, wild basil, wild coleus, wild sesame; Chinese: bai su, zi su; Hindi: bhangjeera; Japanese: akajiso, aojiso, egoma, hojiso, oba, shiso; Korean: chajogi, deulkkae, kkaennip, soyeop; Laotian: nga chan; Nepalese: silam; Thai: nga mon; Vietnamese: tía tô
Botanical names: Perilla frutescens, P. f. var. crispa, P. f. var. frutescens, and other varieties
Family: Lamiaceae (mint)
Parts used: leaves, stems, seeds
Taste: pungent
Energetics: warming
Properties: analgesic, antiallergic, antiemetic, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiseptic, antispasmodic, carminative, diaphoretic, inflammatory modulator, sedative, stimulating expectorant
Uses: allergies, asthma, bronchitis, cold and flu, constipation, cough, depression, dyspnea, excessive phlegm, fever, food, headache, indigestion, lung ailments, sinus congestion, mastitis, morning sickness, nausea, seafood poisoning, skincare, snakebite
Preparations: essential oil, food, poultice, powder, seed oil, tea, tincture
With flavors that suggest mint, coriander, cinnamon, anise, basil, citrus, or clove, perilla is a plant with personality. This unique herb’s attractive leaves, distinctive flavors, and medicinal benefits have earned them a treasured place in many kitchens, gardens, and medicine cabinets. I grew up enamored with the Vietnamese perilla (tía tô) in my family’s garden and dinner table. Years later, I found cultural and culinary kinship when my Korean mother-in-law introduced me to Korean perilla (kkaennip).
Perilla has a rich history and is native to the Himalayas, India, Myanmar, and China. In China, people have celebrated this plant’s medicinal gifts since at least 500 CE, when Tao Hongjing recorded the use of leaves and seeds in Ming Yi Bie Lu (Records of Renowned Physicians). The Chinese name for perilla, su, translates to “comforting, which implies that the herb comforts our bodies and promotes the circulation of blood and qi [vital energy].”[1]
Today perilla leaves and seeds are widely cultivated for food, medicine, and oil in Asian countries including China, India, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. In many cultures, perilla is a prime example of food as medicine.
Perilla is also a popular ornamental plant. Introduced to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, they quickly escaped from gardens and became a naturalized weed in the eastern US and Canada, where they may be found growing in disturbed areas, fields, pastures, woodlands, and along roadsides and streams. In the Ozarks, people call this plant “rattlesnake weed” because of the sound made by the dry seed stalks.
Types of Perilla
Botanists generally recognize two distinct varieties of perilla:
Perilla frutescens var. frutescens is typically larger in size and most often cultivated for edible and medicinal seeds. Oil pressed from the seeds is used in food, medicine, and woodcrafts. The leaves are also eaten as an herb/vegetable in Korea.
Perilla frutescens var. crispa is smaller with more frilly leaves. The leaves are eaten as a culinary herb/vegetable and the seeds are used as medicine.[2]
In North America, P. frutescens var. frutescens is more widely naturalized, while P. frutescens var. crispa is more common in New England.[3]
Besides these two main varieties, there are weedy forms and hybrids, and sorting out perilla taxonomy can be quite confusing.[4] [5] To add further diversity, perilla also comes in different colors: green, purple, and bicolored.
Second Generation Seeds has been conducting fascinating research on the rich genetic diversity and cultivation of Korean and Vietnamese perilla varieties.
Medicinal Properties and Energetics
Perilla is a pungent and mildly warming plant with a long history of being incorporated into food and medicine. The leaves and/or seeds have gifts for modulating inflammation, aiding digestion, relieving symptoms of colds and allergies, and more.
Because there are many types of perilla, when working with it for food or medicine, it’s a good idea to use your own sense of taste and energetics to determine which variety you enjoy, or which may offer the most potent medicine.
Plant Gifts
Provides Nutrition
Perilla contains fat, protein, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.[6] Similar to spinach, perilla leaves are a good source of carotenoids such as lutein.[7] Lutein is an antioxidant associated with benefits for eye health, prevention of age-related macular disease, decreasing risk of cancer, and improving heart health.[8]
Perilla seeds and their oil are a rich plant-based source of omega-3 fatty acids, specifically alpha-linolenic acid. These “good” fats are associated with the reduction of inflammation and prevention of heart disease, cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis, among other conditions.[9]
Perilla seeds also contain phenolic compounds (such as rosmarinic acid), flavonoids (such as luteolin), and anthocyanins known for their antioxidant properties. Rosmarinic acid has anti-inflammatory effects and can decrease allergy symptoms.[10] [11]
Supports Digestion and Relieves Nausea
In China and Japan, perilla leaf has traditionally been employed as an antidote to fish and crab poisoning by relieving symptoms like abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.[12] They may be combined with other herbs such as fresh ginger.[13] One suggested remedy is ”a strong tea of two ounces of dried leaves combined with three large slices of ginger, drunk frequently.”[14] The leaves are also sometimes served with seafood to help prevent allergic reactions.[15]
Morning sickness is another application for perilla. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the leaf and stem treat “the vomiting, pectoral distress, nausea, and lower abdominal pain experienced during pregnancy.” A recommended tea contains 4–9 g of perilla stalk with citrus rind and cardamom.[16]
Other traditional applications include indigestion and constipation. In Chinese medicine, the seeds are said to “moisten the intestines to promote defecation.” Between 3–10 g of the seeds can be decocted with water, cooked into porridge, or powdered and made into pills.[17] For feelings of uncomfortable fullness after eating, I find that the leaves can be used in a similar manner to how one might nibble on a sprig of peppermint or make a cup of peppermint tea, although the effect can be milder.
Perilla’s gifts for digestion were examined in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Fifty subjects with gastrointestinal discomfort and reduced bowel movements were given a Perilla frutescens extract or placebo over four weeks. Results showed that the perilla extract significantly improved all GI discomfort symptoms such as bloating, passage of gas, GI rumbling, feeling of fullness, and abdominal discomfort.[18]
Soothes Cold and Flu Symptoms
In Vietnam, perilla has traditionally been eaten in rice porridge when someone is coming down with a cold or flu.[19] As a warming diaphoretic, the leaf can be helpful when someone has a fever accompanied by chills or an aversion to cold.[20] In TCM, perilla is typically combined with other herbs such as ginger.[21] Perilla is also indicated for colds when there is nasal congestion and a productive cough with bronchial phlegm[22] (see more below).
Treats Respiratory Ailments
Perilla is used in TCM for treating lung and respiratory ailments. For example, the leaf can alleviate coughs and asthma, and the seed can treat dyspnea (labored breathing), asthmatic coughs, and excessive phlegm. Perilla is rarely employed as a standalone herb, however, and is combined in formulas with other herbs.[23]
In a clinical study of chronic bronchitis, participants were given an infusion of ten parts dried perilla leaf to one part dried ginger root for a ten-day course of treatment, with three days of rest between courses of treatment. In 554 cases, 27.2 percent showed marked improvement, 38.6 percent showed some improvement, and 23 percent showed no improvement, with only minor side effects.[24]
In a study of patients with asthma, dietary supplementation with perilla seed oil was found to inhibit the generation of leukotrienes (inflammatory chemicals). In addition, patients had significantly decreased serum levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and phospholipid.[25] In another small study, five patients with bronchial asthma were given 15 g of perilla seed oil daily as a salad dressing or mayonnaise. Within two weeks, symptoms improved in all patients.[26]
Relieves Allergy Symptoms
Japanese, Chinese, and Finnish scientists have studied perilla’s ability to relieve allergy symptoms associated with hay fever and atopic dermatitis. Perilla leaf extracts, perilla drinks, and topical products made with perilla seed oil have shown promise in clinical trials and patient self-evaluation. Adults and children have experienced varying degrees of relief from sneezing, runny nose, and skin itching without the side effects associated with some other allergy medications[27] [28]
In another randomized, double-blind study, patients with mild seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis were treated for 21 days with extract of Perilla frutescens enriched for rosmarinic acid. Patients that received the perilla had a significant increase in responder rates for itchy nose, watery eyes, itchy eyes, and total symptoms, with no adverse effects.[29]
How to Identify Perilla
Perilla has an erect growing habit and reaches one to four feet tall. Like all mint family plants, they have square stalks and opposite leaves. When crushed, the leaves have a minty, musky odor.
Ecological Connections
Perilla flowers are self-pollinating, but the nectar can attract bees, butterflies, and other insects. They are considered an important bee plant in the Uttarakhand Himalayan region.[30]
How to Harvest Perilla
Harvest perilla throughout the growing season. For leaves, it’s best to harvest before the plant flowers. Using your fingers, pruning shears, or scissors, pinch off the top few inches of growth, just above a leaf node. Frequently pruning the tips can encourage bushier growth.
If you want seeds for consumption or sowing, let the plant flower and then harvest the seeds when they are mature.
Gardening Tips
Perilla is a warm weather annual. They prefer full sun to partial shade and fertile, well-drained, moist soil. In dry climates, they may thrive best in the humidity of a greenhouse. (I grow perilla along with other Vietnamese herbs in a small cold frame greenhouse.)
Different varieties of perilla seeds are available from companies like Second Generation Seeds, TrueLove Seeds, Kitazawa Seed Company, and Johnny’s Selected Seeds. To improve germination, soak the seeds for up to 24 hours before sowing. Seeds need light to germinate and emerge in about 14 days.
Perilla is also easy to grow from cuttings. Look for bunches of fresh herbs in the produce section of Asian grocery stores. I’ve also rooted sprigs of tía tô that I brought home from Vietnamese restaurants.
Plants will readily self-seed, so be mindful of unintended spread in gardens or native ecosystems. Remove flower heads before they go to seed or consider growing in containers.
Where to Buy Perilla
In addition to growing or wildcrafting perilla, you can find fresh leaves in the produce section of many Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese grocery stores. The seeds can often be found on Korean market shelves near the sesame seeds. Perilla seed oil can also be found in Korean markets. Chinese herb shops carry dried leaves (zi su ye), stems (zi su gang), and seeds (zi su zi).
Working With Perilla Leaves
Perilla leaves may be eaten raw, cooked, or preserved, and they can add a distinctive flavor and color to salads, soups, wrapped foods, pickles, and more. I often like to chiffonade or thinly slice perilla leaves to scatter over summer foods like sliced tomatoes, fruit salads, and cold noodle salads. Perilla microgreens are also popular with many chefs.
Purple perilla leaves can be used to make beautiful and refreshing beverages; see my recipe for Shiso or Tiá Tô Vinegar, for example. Green perilla leaves may be incorporated into pestos and other herby sauces.
In Vietnamese cuisine, the common variety of perilla (tía tô) is bicolored green and purple. People eat it in soups as well as seafood and cold noodle dishes. Tía tô is often served alongside other fresh herbs to tuck into lettuce wraps of grilled meats or savory crêpes (bánh xèo).
In Korean cuisine, the most common type of perilla (kkaennip or “wild sesame leaf”) has large, broad leaves and a bold flavor. The leaves are used as wraps (ssam) for grilled meats and they are added to stews and other dishes. Marinated and pickled leaves (kkaennip jangajji and kkaennip kimchi) can be wrapped around bites of rice.
In Japanese cuisine, cooks may serve frilly green shiso leaves (aojiso or oba) in salads, as a garnish for sashimi, and battered and fried as tempura. Purple shiso leaves (akajiso) are often used to color drinks and pickles. Bicolored perilla flower buds (hojiso) may be salted, pickled, and used as garnish.
In the Hunan province of China, perilla leaves are used in fish dishes and pan-fried with cucumbers.
Dried perilla leaves can be used to make tea. They can also be crumbled into furikake (Japanese rice seasoning) and then sprinkled on rice, vegetables, or other foods. A tasty way to preserve purple shiso leaves is to first use them to color umeboshi (pickled plums), and then dry the leftover, seasoned leaves for furikake.
In the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, India, perilla (bhangjeera) leaves are cooked as a vegetable and used to make tea. In the Khasi region, people boil young perilla shoots and flowering tops and eat them with soups and rice.
In the Ozarks, where perilla is a common weed, the leaves have been used to flavor homemade sausage and beverages like sarsaparilla.
Working With Perilla Seeds
Roasted perilla seeds have an earthy, nutty taste. I like sprinkling them on salads and grain bowls similar to how one might use sesame seeds.
In Korean cuisine, whole or ground roasted perilla seeds (deulkkae) are added to soups, stews, vegetable dishes, and drinks. Perilla seed oil is used in dressings, dipping sauces, vegetables, and other dishes in Korean and Japan.
People also incorporate perilla seeds into vegetable, meat, and fish dishes in India. In Uttarakhand, roasted and ground perilla (bhangjeera) seeds are used to flavor chutneys. The seed oil is also used for food, medicine, and infant massage.[31]
Immature shiso seeds are used in Japanese cuisine, where they are salted to make a delightful accompaniment to rice.
Recommended Amounts
Recommended therapeutic amounts are as follows:
Dried leaf: 3–9 g[32]
Stem: 4.5–9 g[33]
Seeds (powdered, decocted): 3–10 g[34]
Special Considerations
Some people may experience contact dermatitis from prolonged handling of perilla.[35]
Perilla can be toxic to cows and sheep, causing respiratory failure.[36]
References
[1] Yuh-Pan Chen, ”Applications and Prescriptions of Perilla in Traditional Chinese Medicine,” in Perilla: The Genus Perilla, ed. He-Ci You, Kenichi Kosuna, and Megumi Haga (London: Taylor & Francis, 1997), 37.
[2] Miyuki Nitta, Ju Kyong Lee, and Ohmi Ohnishi, ”Asian Perilla Crops and Their Weedy Forms: Their Cultivation, Utilization and Genetic Relationships,” Economic Botany 57, no. 2 (Summer 2003): 245-253, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4256682.
[3] Native Plant Trust, ”Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt.,” Go Botany, https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/perilla/frutescens/.
[4] Miyuki Nitta, Ju Kyong Lee, and Ohmi Ohnishi, ”Asian Perilla Crops,” 245-253.
[5] Hiwa M. Ahmed, ”Ethnomedicinal, Phytochemical and Pharmacological Investigations of Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt.,” Molecules 24, no. 1 (January 2019): 102, https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24010102.
[6] Akriti Dhyani, Rajni Chopra, and Meenakshi Garg, ”A Review on Nutritional Value, Functional Properties and Pharmacological Application of Perilla (Perilla Frutescens L.),” Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal 12, no. 2 (2019), https://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bpj/1685.
[7] Georg Schirrmacher et al., ”Effect of Spinacia oleraceae L. and Perilla frutescens L. on Antioxidants and Lipid Peroxidation in an Intervention Study in Healthy Individuals,” Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 65, no. 1 (March 2010): 71-76, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-009-0152-x.
[8] Silvio Buscemi et al., ”The Effect of Lutein on Eye and Extra-Eye Health,” Nutrients 10, no. 9 (September 2018): 1321, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10091321.
[9] Mohammad Asif, ”Health effects of omega-3,6,9 fatty acids: Perilla frutescens is a good example of plant oils,” Oriental Pharmacy & Experimental Medicine 11 (2011): 51–59, https://doi.org/10.1007/s13596-011-0002-x.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Akriti Dhyani, Rajni Chopra, and Meenakshi Garg, ”A Review on Nutritional Value.”
[12] Toshiaki Makino et al., ”Anti‐allergic effect of Perilla frutescens and its active constituents,” Phytotherapy Research 17, issue 3 (March 2003): 240-243, https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.1115.
[13] Yuh-Pan Chen, ”Applications and Prescriptions of Perilla,” 39.
[14] Steven Foster and Yue Chongxi, Herbal Emissaries: Bringing Chinese Herbs to the West (Rochester, Vt.: Healing Arts Press, 1992), 307.
[15] Toshiaki Makino et al., ”Anti‐allergic effect of Perilla frutescens.”
[16] Yuh-Pan Chen, ”Applications and Prescriptions of Perilla,” 39.
[17] Shengyan Xi and Yuewen Gong, Essentials of Chinese Materia Medica and Medical Formulas (London, Academic Press, 2017), 282.
[18] Sybille Buchwald-Werner et al., ”Perilla Extract improves gastrointestinal discomfort in a randomized placebo controlled double blind human pilot study,” BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 14 (May 27, 2014): 173, https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-14-173.
[19] Miyuki Nitta, Ju Kyong Lee, and Ohmi Ohnishi, ”Asian Perilla Crops,” 248.
[20] Steven Foster and Yue Chongxi, Herbal Emissaries, 307.
[21] Yuh-Pan Chen, ”Applications and Prescriptions of Perilla,” 38-39.
[22] Carl-Hermann Hempen and Toni Fischer, A Materia Medica for Chinese Medicine (Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 2009): 40-41.
[23] Yuh-Pan Chen, ”Applications and Prescriptions of Perilla,” 38-39.
[24] Steven Foster and Yue Chongxi, Herbal Emissaries, 307-308.
[25] Makoto Okamoto et al., ”Effects of Perilla Seed Oil Supplementation on Leukotriene Generation by Leucocytes in Patients with Asthma Associated with Lipometabolism,” International Archives of Allergy and Immunology 122, no. 2 (June 2000): 137-142, https://doi.org/10.1159/000024369.
[26] Kozo Ashida et al., ”A pilot study: Effects of dietary supplementation with a-linolenic acid-enriched perilla seed oil on bronchial asthma,” Allergology International 46 (1997): 181-185, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82103225.pdf.
[27] He-Ci You, ”Introduction,” in Perilla: The Genus Perilla, ed. He-Ci You, Kenichi Kosuna, and Megumi Haga (London: Taylor & Francis, 1997), 4.
[28] He-Ci You, Aimo Niskanen, and Jukka Paananen, ”Perilla and the Treatment of Allergy – A Review,” in Perilla: The Genus Perilla, ed. He-Ci You, Kenichi Kosuna, and Megumi Haga (London: Taylor & Francis, 1997), 55.
[29] Hirohisa Takano et al., ”Extract of Perilla frutescens Enriched for Rosmarinic Acid, a Polyphenolic Phytochemical, Inhibits Seasonal Allergic Rhinoconjunctivitis in Humans,” Experimental Biology and Medicine 229, no. 3 (March 2004): 247-254, https://doi.org/10.1177/153537020422900305.
[30] Anjula Pandey and K. C. Bhatt, ”Diversity distribution and collection of genetic resources of cultivated and weedy type in Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton var. frutescens and their uses in Indian Himalaya,” Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 55 (2008):883–892, https://doil.org/10.1007/s10722-007-9293-7.
[31] Vikram S. Negi et al., ”Perilla frutescens in Transition: a medicinal and oil yielding plant need instant conservation, a case study from Central Himalaya, India,” Environment & We: An International Journal of Science & Technology 6 (2011) 193-200, http://www.ewijst.org/issues/vol_6/ewijst060433059.pdf.
[32] Steven Foster and Yue Chongxi, Herbal Emissaries, 308.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Ibid.
[35] Arthur O. Tucker and Thomas DeBaggio, The Encyclopedia of Herbs: A Comprehensive Reference to Herbs of Flavor and Fragrance (Portland: Timber Press, 2009), 389.
[36] Glenn Nice, Bill Johnson, and Brad Shelton, ”Weed Management in Pastures: Beefsteak Plant (Perilla Mint),” Purdue Extension, produced November 17, 2010, https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/BP/WS-43-W.pdf.