Umeboshi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Umeboshi (Japanese: 梅干; literally "dried ume") are pickled ume fruits. Ume is a species of fruit-bearing tree in the genus Prunus, which is often called a plum but is actually more closely related to the apricot. Umeboshi are a type of tsukemono, or traditional Japanese pickled food, and are very popular in Japan. Many Japanese have Umeboshi for breakfast or lunch.
Umeboshi are usually round, and vary from unwrinkled to very wrinkled. They taste salty, and are extremely sour due to high citric acid content – they have been known to corrode their way through aluminium lunch boxes if kept in the same spot every day.
Umeboshi are often cited in Japan as being extremely healthy. The standard Japanese folk remedy for colds and flus is okayu (Japanese congee) with umeboshi.
The central area of Wakayama prefecture is known throughout Japan for the number and quality of its ume and umeboshi. The town of Minabe, Wakayama, in particular, grows more ume and produces more umeboshi than any other town in all of Japan.
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[edit] Production
Umeboshi are traditionally made by harvesting ume fruit when they ripen around June and packing them in barrels with salt. A weight is placed on top and the fruit gradually exude juices, which accumulate at the bottom of the barrel. This salty, sour liquid is marketed as umezu (梅酢; often translated as "ume vinegar"), although it is not a true vinegar.[1]
Many modern umeboshi are not made in this way; usually less salt is used, and the ume are pickled in seasoned pickling liquid, or vinegar. These include umeboshi dyed red using purple perilla herbs (called akajiso), or flavoured with katsuobushi, kombu or even sweetened with honey.
[edit] Eating
Umeboshi are usually eaten with rice, in small quantities at a time.
As part of a bento (Japanese lunchbox), a single umeboshi is often placed in the centre of the rice to recreate the flag of Japan, the Hinomaru Bento. The sour and salty umeboshi is also believed to help digest the rice.
It is also a common ingredient in onigiri, rice balls wrapped in nori, and they may also be used in makizushi. Makizushi made with umeboshi may be made with either pitted umeboshi or umeboshi paste (which is cheaper), often in conjunction with slivered fresh green perilla (shiso) leaves.
Umeboshi may also be served as a complement of a green tea or a drink with shochu and hot water.
Children's candy shops sometimes carry karikari ume, or prepackaged, crunchy pickled ume.
[edit] Similar foods
Huamei (Chinese: 话梅; pinyin: huàméi; literally "talk plum"), or Chinese preserved plum, refers to any of a large number of Chinese foods involving plums pickled in sugar, salt, and herbs such as licorice. There are two general varieties: a dried variety, and a wet variety, the latter of which is pickled with vinegar and salt, and called suān méizi (酸梅子; literally "sour mei fruits"). Suān méizi are similar to Japanese umeboshi in that they have an intensely sour and salty flavor. Flavors and methods of preparation of huamei differ widely by region. Huamei are usually consumed as a snack.
In South Asian countries a similar dish is enjoyed called Amla in Hindi it is prepared in the same manner, with the exception that Indian Gooseberries are the fruit packed in salt instead of Ume.
In western culture, the prune is a closely related edible.
[edit] See also
