One of the seasonal drink, and this is definitely summer drink in our family. We make this juice every year, normally after making Umeboshi (because we need good red shiso for Umeboshi making) and enjoy this drink all through the summer.
This is called Shisho juice (Shiso = perilla) or Shisho drink. As you know there are red Shisho and green Shiso, but we only use red Shiso for this juice. This is amazingly refreshing juice and I really like its colour. It is expected many benefits such as helping to recover from exhaustion, helping digestion, detoxing, helping anti-ageing and more!!
Very easy to make!
What we make here is concentrate. When you drink, pour some water or fizzy water and make perfect taste you like! Here is my family recipe, but basically no rule!
Ingredients
Water 2L
Red Shiso 300g ~ (more is totally OK!)
Vinegar 400cc (or 3-4 lemons / citric acid 20g)
Sugar 500g
First wash Red Shiso leaves.
We grow our own Shio leaves at the little farm, so this is freshly harvested from there! Yes, Organic Shiso leaves. If you want to buy Shiso leaves from shops, try Asian grocery stores. They have Shiso leaven when it is season.
Then, put them into boiling water pot.
Stir gently. Soon the water colour become dark purple.
Then take leaves out from the pot.
Check if the leaves become green. If all the red pigment moved into the water, then Shisho leaves looks green. Not red anymore.
Now, the water colour is like this! Not yet nice colour.
Add vinegar and sugar. We use rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar. But other vinegar might work, just try it! (Probably balsamic vinegar won’t work though…) After you add vinegar, see the colour of the liquid! Love this moment! It become elegant colour. And I’m sure you are enjoying its smell already.
That’s it! Done! Super easy.
Pour into jar when it is still hot. Keep it in the fridge, it will last 1 year. In case of my family, it doesn’t last that long, because we drink so much during summer and finish them all by the time autumn starts.
For somebody who works outside during summer, this would be great drink. It will give you the energy for next day, and it really heals your tiredness!! You will love it!!
Although sometimes we find Ume juice (plum juice) at the cafes or festival, we don’t find this Shiso juice so often at the cafe or restaurant. for some reason. (I only found once in a small cafe in Tokyo! I was so happy to see this pink juice in the menu, so of course I ordered one. The cafe menu said “Summer special drink” :-)).
Probably this is the drink we make at home for family’s wellbeing.
Hope you had a nice summer xx
Cooking With Koji 
Hi, I first had shiso cordial in Japan, made by my wife’s mother. Returning to UK, I had success growing some in a poly tunnel, I made plenty of the cordial but as I am a keen home brewer I tried a wine recipe that uses a similar looking wild plant, the stinging nettle. It was made last summer and we had our first taste recently, and it’s very nice. Do you think I am the first to try this, or have you heard of a wine being made from shiso?
I made some Kome-Koji recently and I have some sake bubbling away and also made Shio Koji, but I am interested in making miso and Shoyu, and looking for instruction I came across your site, if I wasn’t on the other side of the world I would definitely book on all your wonderful looking courses. I am sure to become an avid follower of your site!
I hear about Red shiso wine here and then, I think it is on the market as well. Sounds like you are enjoying Japanese fermentation, if you are making Koji, then making miso is nothing for you! Enjoy.