An Unusual Cup of Perilla Tea

   Today was a beautiful fall day, one of the last before forecasted stormy days.

So I pulled up some spent plants and weeds, and trimmed some shrubs. 

But before I discarded the perilla plants, I decided I wanted to keep a 

few leaves and try it. I'd read it was used in Oriental cooking, and for soups and salads,
and that it had many health benefits too. It tastes a bit like basil, mint and cinnamon.
 I brewed some tea with a handful of leaves, and thinly sliced a few leaves to garnish
 the chicken-avocado salad Emilie and I had for lunch.

Perilla tea

Perilla leaves thinly-sliced atop our salad

slivers of perilla leaf garnish 

Easy-to-grow perilla .Some say " it will grow between 2 cigarette butts in a sidewalk crack"
It's a pretty burgundy foliage plant, in the mint family. It is also called Beefsteak Plant,
It's bug resistant,and grows in hot sun, where coleus doesn't thrive.
   Some depise it, say it's invasive and toxic to cattle and horses.
Others love it grown as an annual as a pretty foliage with other flowers.
Click here to learn more
It received both good and bad reviews on this blog: Dave's Garden 

Perilla Frutescens

It would be nice if it helped me with my sinus infection, 

I'm getting tired of Dayquil and Theraflu! 

 I like learning about plants that others don't appreciate

. Like the Bittersweet I wrote about a few years back.

After supper I like to take the kids for a nature walk.

 We like crunching along in the fall leaves and and 

checking out the neighbor's Halloween decorations.

  

I promise I didn't eat these, although my friend harvests shelf mushrooms.

I just can't positively identify them and don't want to poison myself.

Some fungi

A goblin  on a tree

Emilie likes to help cook and bake.

Her  Mama bought these slice-and bake refrigerator cookies at Aldi.

Would you eat unusual plants you found? 

I guess I'm a bit of a hippie. But I love finding natural cures and free food  in nature. 

 Love, Linda