perilla oil

Korea; oil pressed from roasted perilla seed, eaten most in Chungcheong, Jeolla and Gyeongsang, where perilla is grown, and pressed raw from unroasted seed for lamps and for oiling paper

Pressed where perilla grows, south of the central region, and little used in the north; more than 60 per cent alpha-linolenic acid, it turns rancid at room temperature from about twenty weeks after pressing and keeps in the cold

Perilla oil is a southern oil in Korea. Hwang Hye-sung places it where perilla grows, most of all in Chungcheong, Jeolla and Gyeongsang, while the north, which grows little perilla, uses little of the oil; it goes into stir-fried namul and is brushed onto gim before grilling, and pressed raw from unroasted seed it lit lamps and oiled Joseon paper. Its fragility is chemical: the Rural Development Administration counts more than 60 per cent alpha-linolenic acid in perilla oil against under 1 per cent in sesame oil, and found it turning rancid at room temperature from twenty weeks after pressing while it held unchanged for forty weeks at 4 degrees. This establishes that perilla oil belongs in the refrigerator, where sesame oil needs only a cool place out of the sun.