Hello again, everybody - I'm back after a long absence, this time with
a question about red ****so. I've been growing several varieties of
****so - red (aka ****so, Japanese), green (ao ****so, Japanese), Korean
****so (kkaennip), and Vietnamese purple / green ****so (tia to).
What type is closest to the red ****so used in China?
The Japanese red ****so has curly leaves and almost no flavor, as far as
I can tell based on eating the leaves raw. This is strange since I've
read that aka ****so has a "liquoricey" fragrance and that it is used in
Chinese cuisine to flavor some meat dishes and to make a tea. The stuff
I have would not flavor anything; though I suspect it would give it a
nice purple color.
In contrast, the green ****so has a nice strong flavor, vaguely like
cinnamon, the flavor that one gets overtones of in umebo****. And the
Vietnamese tia to also has a strong, recognizable green-****so like
flavor.
With Viet Nam abbutting directly onto southern China, I wondered if the
Chinese red perilla might be more like tia to than like the flavorless
purple aka ****so. Anyone?
The tia to I'm growing has an almost-green front to the leaf, stained
with purple-red at the veins, and is a deep maroon red on the reverse
of the leaves. The leaves aren't curly.
What characteristics should the plant have if it is used in TCM or is
used to make tea?
PS. The ****itake log in the woods, now in its N'th year, is still going
strong and produces bizarre, abberrant, salad plate sized single
mushrooms.
Best and Hello, All! - krnntp
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