Akashiso Red Perilla Juice 赤しそジュース

日本語のレシピは　ビーガン、ベジタリアン情報満載の　Hachidory から　ご覧下さい。

It is officially declared that the rainy season has started.

But it seems that the rainy season was skipped and the hot summer has arrived to me.

The temperature reaches over 35 centigrade for the last few days, which is considered Kokusho / extreme heat in Japan.

I am right now hearing an alert from the speaker of the town hall to drink water on and off and be careful not to get heat stroke. 

The summer season is the heaven for the insects.

The butterflies catch my attention during my walk.

They flutter flower to flower.

And sip the nectar from them.

  

Today’s recipe is just perfect for such extremely hot days.

It is “Akashiso Juice / Red Perilla Juice.”

It probably will raise your energy level high up as if the nectar provides the power to the butterflies to flap their wings.

 

Shiso / Perilla is a Japanese traditional herb and grows from July to August.

I never planted the seeds, but they appear here and there in my garden and in my neighborhood.

I am sharing Aoshiso with the insects. 

 

Can you see the grasshopper perching on Akashiso ?

They are also easily available in the shops and farmers market during summer season.

Therefore as you may be imagining, this is the most popular herb in Japan, and is frequently used in Japanese cooking.

There are green ones and red ones.

The green ones are called “Aoshiso” or “Ohba” and used for more wider range of cooking, whereas the red ones are called “Akashiso “and usually used for limited cooking.

 

Akashiso are appreciated because of their color, and they are mainly used for umeboshi making / preserved green plums, and for juice.  

However they are used not only for coloring purpose but for enhancing the aroma and taste of umeboshi.  

I also found that my umeboshi never gets moldy when I added the Akashiso. 

I think the combination of Ume plum and Akashiso has the synergetic effect to stop the growth of unfavorable bacteria.    

I add plenty of Akashiso in my umeboshi as I love the taste of it, and I can also obtain the very beautiful red vinegar which is indispensable for my cooking.  

I introduced one such recipe in my previous post.

Today’s recipe is Akashiso Juice.

It is quite a popular recipe so you can get it easily from YouTube too. 

Most of them are using either citric acid or vinegar to enhance the color, and the refined cane sugar as a sweetener.  

I do not want to use the synthesized powder, and my stomach is intolerant to the excess amount of vinegar, so my recipes do not require either of them. 

As for the sweetener, I use the unrefined beetroot sugar which is gentler to my body compared with the cane sugar.

 

Other advantages of beetroot sugar are that the beetroots are locally grown in Hokkaido, Japan and the sugar is also manufactured locally unlike the cane sugar which are mostly imported from overseas. 

But the biggest advantage for the strict vegans is that the beetroot sugar is 100% vegan unlike the cane sugar which has possibility of non-vegan as they are sometimes refined through the filters made from bone char depending on which factory they are processed.

If the red perilla is available at where you live.

Try my recipe !
It is refreshing and it makes you revitalized during hot and humid summer !

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タグ：赤しそジュース 青紫蘇 てんさい糖 ちょうちょ バッタ レモン 夏みかん 夏レシピ 大根レシピ 梅酢 梅干し マクロビオティック ビーガン ヘルシー Hachidory red perilla Japanesecooking vegetablejuice butterfly GRASSHOPPER lemon beetrootsugar Umeboshi macrobiotics Vegan plantbased GlutenFree Japanesesummer