Umeboshi is a traditional condiment consisting of pickled plums in Japan. When I was a child, my grandmother made it every summer, but I didn’t like it because it was too salty for me:P
This year, it was my first time making Umeboshi by myself. I wasn’t sure I could make great Umeboshi, though I had much motivation to do so.
There are the four steps to making umeboshi:
- To pickle plums with 20 percent salt:
Wash plums and get rid of plum’s stems with a toothpick. (This is the same method as plum syrup.) If you want to make it quickly, you should freeze the plums overnight and pickle the plums with 20 percent salt in a clean bottle. ( If you use less than 20 percent, the plums might over-ferment.) All plums should be covered by salt and a heavy object. I use water in a plastic bag for this. Keep this bottle in dark and cool place for a month.
- To add red shiso leaves:
One month later you should add shiso leaves if you want to color umeboshi. Shiso leaves give umeboshi a good fragrance and tasty color. This should also sit for one month.
- To dry all plums and shiso leaves:
Then dry all the plums and shiso leaves for 3 days. You should take them out of the bottle and dry them in the sun for three days. Drying the plums has a bacterial effect; it will keep for a long time. In this step, you will get Umezu, a byproduct of Umeboshi. You could use that for pickled ginger!
Here I thought my plums were too salty like my grandmother’s so I decided to go one more step!
- To reduce the salt and pickle them again with honey:
Take the umeboshi that you plan to eat and soak it in water overnight. And then add honey to make it delicious. But since it will only last about 2 weeks, please soak the umeboshi each time you eat it