Description
Ingredients: salted perilla leaves(wild sesame leaves), soy sauce, water, red pepper paste, sugar, garlic, red pepper powder, taste base, gluconic acid, pepper seed oil, sesame, vinegar, lactobacillus fermented powder, oleoresin capsicum.
The terms “spiced” and “spicy” are used pretty much interchangeably in the tinned fish world, to mean two different things: with a hot pepper (or hot pepper flavor), and with cloves/bay/carrot/hot pepper. There are many examples of both terms being used to mean both things.
We are so frustrated by how widespread this confusing inconsistent usage is that we’ve gone through our entire product line to correct the incorrect ones such that our description of “spiced” or “spicy” will always indicate which it really is, regardless of the packaging. “Spicy” = with hot pepper flavor. “Spiced” = with the cloves/bay/carrot/hot pepper flavors.
Hream McDan (verified owner) –
Fun to try and filled with tons of perilla leaves. Difficult to get one at a time without taking them all out, as they are stacked nicely but then also folded on the sides. Regardless, the gochujang-ish flavor profile met my expectations and I was pleased to find a good amount of brothy liquid in the tin alongside the leaves. Used the leaves to eat with some lightly smoked sardines (not a great pairing but they weren’t super high quality sardines) and the liquid as a sauce for dumplings. Overall, another enjoyable Sempio tin despite my poor sardine pairing. Next time, I’ll be sure to have some rice nearby as well as some higher quality fish to pair them with.
ptaillon (verified owner) –
These had a nice (spicy) kick though not just for the sake of heat. Just a good overall balance of flavors. Reviewer Hream McDan has good advice: take them out of the tin completely because the stack is folded together, and it will make it much easier to separate the leaves. I paired mine with tinned mackerel and some leftover grilled steak, using the leaves as wraps. So good.
luke (verified owner) –
Super tasty, though I actually recommend taking them out of the tin and chopping them finely rather than keeping them as whole leaves – which can be hard to separate from one another. Sliced up they make a fantastic addition to a board of fish or other snacks, just adding a pinch here and there to spice them up nicely.. also really lovely
Tossed up with some simple noodles as a snack.