Shiso raiders

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Shiso seems to love one corner of my herb garden, and my Asian friends often come over to raid my shiso plants. Sonya drops over to cut some of the bigger leaves as wrappers for barbecued short ribs; Sonoko uses them for garnish in Japanese home cooking. From the garden, I can hear the clop of Naoko’s geta sandals coming down the stairs before I see her. Armed with scissors and a sandwich-sized Ziploc bag, she gives my trio of shiso plants a pruning, stacking the leaves neatly into the baggie. I’ve given her a shiso plant, and she’s also planted seeds, but somehow neither have done well in her garden. So she comes over every week or so to get some shiso. This is her method for storing the leaves: First she washes them and pats them dry, layering the leaves between paper towels in a bigger baggie where she says they’re fine for up to two weeks. I tried it, and it works like a charm.

—S. Irene Virbila