Perilla Oil — Cold-Pressed Korean Cooking Fat (들기름)

Perilla cultivation for seed oil is a Korean and Northeastern Chinese tradition; perilla oil is particularly associated with Gangwon province highland cuisine where the cool climate favours perilla seed cultivation

Deul-gireum (들기름, perilla oil) is pressed from the seeds of Perilla frutescens (Korean perilla, 들깨 — not to be confused with shiso) and represents one of the most distinctive cooking fats in Korean cuisine — rich in omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid, with an intensely nutty, somewhat assertive flavour markedly different from sesame oil. Perilla oil is used both as a cooking fat (for stir-frying leafy vegetables) and as a finishing flavour (added to namul at the end). Its flavour is more robust and assertive than sesame oil and is particularly valued in Gangwon province highland cuisine where perilla seed cultivation is traditional.

• Perilla oil as a cooking fat has no close parallel in other major cuisines; the closest functional parallel is Japanese shiso oil and various omega-3-rich seed oils used in European natural cooking traditions

Perilla oil's assertive, nutty-slightly-pungent character makes it the flavour that defines Gangwon mountain cuisine's character — where Seoul cooking finishes with sesame oil, the highlands finish with deul-gireum, and the difference is immediately recognisable.