.: evil jungle prince :.

Now that it is finally starting to warm up a little here in the desert, my herbs are showing their appreciation by maturing vigorously. Although I planted a number of them this year, these two are the first to offer themselves sacrificially to my cooking altar. They are obviously the bravest of all the seeds I sowed.

Kkaennip ( 깻잎 or 들깨] ) remains my favorite herb -- yet another secret that the Koreans having been hiding from us Yanks for far too long. Its taste is similar to basil but more minty, and yet the overall taste is quite subdued. These are delicious chopped fresh on naengmyun and I can't wait to prepare my first dish of the year. (Last year I also made kimchi pizza using kkaennip in place of basil and felt it turned out smashingly.) As there seems to be some question whether or not kkaennip is the same herb as shiso (perilla), I'm going to refer to this herb by its Korean name from now on.

While I was visiting my mother this year and roaming around her favorite nursery, my eyes stumbled on a packet of mitsuba ( 三葉通草 ) seeds (Japanese trefoil). I planted them for the sake of experimentation and have been impressed how vigorously they are growing in our desert winter climate. I still don't have much idea of how I can culinarily utilize them outside of miso soup, but I'm looking forward to trying this herb out.

Anyone have any experience with or in advice on the use of mitsuba?