With summer upon us, various plants have come to life after a long winter sleep. One of the plants that has sprouted up all over our property (though we only planted it in one area) is shiso / しそ.We only grow the green variety as it goes well with a lot of different dishes. The red variety is used to colour Japanese apricots to make the famous accompaniment to rice, ume boshi / pickled plum (though it isn't a plum) / 梅干し. I don't see it used as much as the green variety, so for that reason we don't grow the red version.This year, I decided not to make ume boshi, as I still have some from last year. I also made ume shu / 梅酒 / plum liqueur last year and have not finished it all. Instead, I made ume jam this year (I made some last year and it quickly disappeared). All of this means that I had no need for red shiso this year.My wife however saw red shiso at the market the other day and purchased it, not for making pickles of any sort, but for making red shiso extract. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I do remember she also made some last year and it quickly disappeared.A huge bush of red shiso cost about ¥200 or about CDN $2. From that, she was able to make about 2 litres of extract. There's not too much that goes into the recipe: shiso, water, apple cider vinegar, and sugar. Oh, and one more thing: love.When you drink this extract with some soda and ice, you taste the shiso (delicious), you taste the vinegar (a bit tart), you taste the sugar (sweet) and you taste the love.The colour, smell and taste is beautiful. Nature gave us this wonderful product. Family adds some love and makes it even better. Cheers!