On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 776

century and named shiso; many Westerners
get their first taste of it in sushi restaurants.
The distinctive aroma of perilla is due to a
terpene called perillaldehyde, which has a
fatty, herbaceous, spicy character. There are
severaldifferentperillavarieties,somegreen,
some red to purple with anthocyanins, some
with no perillaldehyde and instead tasting of
dillorlemon.TheJapaneseeattheleavesand
flower heads with seafood and grilled meats,
and use a red variety to color and flavor the
popular pickled plum, umeboshi. Koreans
obtain both flavor and cooking oil from
perillaseeds.
Rosemary Rosemary is a distinctive woody
shrub,Rosmarinus officinalis, that grows in
thedryMediterraneanscrublands,withleaves
sonarrowandtightlyrolledthattheylooklike
pineneedles.Ithasastrong,compositescent,
made up of woody, pine, floral, eucalyptus,
and clove notes. In southern France and Italy


ittraditionallyflavorsgrilledmeats,butitcan
also complement sweet dishes. Rosemary
aromaisunusuallywellpreservedbydrying.
Sage The genusSalvia is the largest in the
mint family, with around a thousand species
that are rich in unusual chemicals, and have
been used in many different folk medicines.
The genus name comes from a Latin root

meaning “health.” Sage extracts have been
found to be excellent antimicrobial and
antioxidant materials. However, common
garden sage,S. officinalis, is rich in two
terpenederivatives,thujoneandcamphor,that
are toxic to the nervous system, so its use as
anything but an occasional flavoring is not a
goodidea.
CommonorDalmatiansagehasa
penetrating,warmqualityfromthujone,the
noteofcamphor,andaeucalyptusnotefrom
cineole.Greeksage(S.fruticosa)hasmore
cineole,whileclarysage(S.sclarea)isvery