Alright, so I’ve been messing around with my garden bits again. You know how perilla is, right? The leaves are pretty popular, people use them in all sorts of dishes, make tea, whatever. I grow a bunch of it myself. And every time I’d harvest the leaves, I’d be left with all these stems. For ages, I just chucked them in the compost. Seemed like a bit of a waste, but honestly, I had no idea what else to do with them. Then I got to thinking, maybe there’s something to these leftover bits.
My Little Experiment with Perilla Stems
So, I decided, why not try and see what these perilla stems are all about? I wasn’t expecting miracles, just curious. First thing, I went out and gathered a good handful of stems after picking off the leaves. They were fresh, still green. I brought them inside and gave them a good wash under the tap, got all the garden dirt off.
Then I kinda just chopped them up into smaller pieces, maybe an inch or two long. Figured it might help release whatever good stuff was in them. I didn’t follow any fancy recipe, just winged it. I chucked them into a small pot, covered them with water, and put it on the stove to boil. Let it simmer for a good 15-20 minutes. The kitchen started to smell a bit like, well, perilla, but more woody, if that makes sense.
After it boiled, I strained the liquid. It was a pale, slightly greenish-brownish color. Looked like a weak tea. So, I let it cool down a bit and then I took a sip. The taste? It was mild, a bit earthy, not unpleasant. Definitely not as strong as perilla leaf tea. I decided I’d drink a cup of this stuff for a few days, just to see.
What I Reckon Happened
You know, this whole thing with trying out the perilla stems, it kinda reminded me of something else. Last year, my old car started making this weird rattling noise. I took it to a couple of garages, and they all quoted me a fortune, talking about replacing this and that major part. I was about to give up. Then, my neighbor, old Mr. Henderson, he used to be a mechanic, he had a listen. He poked around under the hood for like five minutes, tightened a loose bracket that was vibrating against something, and bam! Noise gone. Cost me nothing but a thank you. It just goes to show, sometimes the simple, overlooked things are the answer, or at least worth a shot before you go for the complicated, expensive fixes.
So, back to the perilla stem tea. I drank it for about a week. Did I suddenly feel like a superhero? Nah, not really. But I did notice a couple of things. I’d been having this annoying little tickle in my throat, kind of a dry cough that wasn’t serious but just irritating. After a few days of the stem tea, it seemed to calm down quite a bit. Also, my stomach, which can be a bit iffy sometimes, felt generally more settled. It wasn’t like a huge, dramatic change, more like things were just a bit smoother.
- Washed the stems really well.
- Chopped ’em up.
- Boiled them for a good while.
- Drank the strained water.
So, what’s my final take? I don’t think perilla stems are some kind of magic potion. If you’re seriously ill, go see a doctor, obviously. But for those little everyday things, or just as a mild, soothing drink? Yeah, I think there might be something to it. It’s practically free if you’re growing perilla anyway, and it feels good not to waste parts of the plant. It’s a gentle kind of thing, not a powerhouse. I’ll definitely be saving my perilla stems from now on and boiling them up. Can’t hurt, might help a little, and it’s certainly better than them just rotting in the compost pile. Just don’t expect it to cure all your woes overnight, you know?
