If you haven’t tried the making of shiso juice at home, let join me this year. Last Friday I bought terrific-looking shiso leaves again from Two Guys from Woodbridge, Hamden, CT, at Union Square Greenmarket, NYC. Some of the leaves were as large as my palm. The beauty of making shiso juice at home is that 1) you can control the sugar in your drink, 2) no store is selling shiso juice and 3) you can make shiso salt from the used shiso leaves. Here is the recipe. Last year I used white, granulated sugar. This year I used light brown sugar. There is a subtle flavor and color difference.
Bring 2 qt water in a pot to a boil. Add picked 3 ounce shiso leaves to the pot, submerge the shiso leaves and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and press the leaves in the strainer to get the most flavor out of the leaves. Return the shiso liquid to the pot and add 7 ounce light brown sugar. Cook the liquid until the sugar dissolves, stirring. Add 8 to 10 tablespoons lemon juice. You will make about 9 cups of concentrated shiso juice. Enjoy the shiso juice by diluting it with cold water or cold seltzer water by 1 : 4 portion.
Shiso salt: Lightly sprinkle sea salt over cookie sheet. Open up and spread all of the used shiso leaves on the cookie sheet without overlapping each other. Lightly sprinkle additional sea salt over the shiso leaves. I leave the cookie sheet on top of the oven. It will take only a day to have all the leaves dried. Add the completely dried leaves with salt to a food processor and process until they are fine. Use the shiso salt to garnish your soup, salad,….for any summer dishes.