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Umeboshi are almost always translated as "pickled plums," but they are technically apricots. Not that it matters-what makes them interesting is their ability to provide a walloping flavor boost to many dishes. They also keep in the refrigerator for months and even years at a time, always ready to give the breakaway cook an instant and delightful flavor blast.
Many Japanese families still make umeboshi at home every June. The stores sell green, unripe ume in neat little bags, which are brought home, crammed into a ceramic crock, and packed with salt. After a few weeks, red shiso (perilla) leaves are added to give the umeboshi its classic deep-red color. More salt is added, and after a month or two they're ready to be eaten as is. Some people sun-dry them for a few days to remove some excess moisture. Everyone has a slightly different recipe, but essentially these delightful little flavor balls turn into supersour, salty pieces of stonefruit.
But for those of us who can't be bothered to make our own, Japanese markets and Chinese markets offer a wide variety of them. I prefer the fat, meaty, flavorful ones the come in sealed plastic tubs ones to the scrawnier ones, which are used mainly as a postprandial digestive in Japan. Many Japanese feel that a meal isn't complete until a single umeboshi is eaten at the end. Pureed umeboshi can also be purchased; Japanese markets often sell it in a tube, to be squeezed out like toothpaste. The tube is undeniably convenient, but the whole plums taste better.
Japanese also swear by the health-enhancing properties of umeboshi. Many like to pour boiling water over one, for a "tea" that is said to reduce fatigue. Even more believe in the power of umeboshi to fight colds and to alleviate nausea. Japanese partiers swear it cures hangovers like nothing else.
All of that aside, I eat them in large quantities because of their amazing taste, which might be described as a combination of sour, salt, sweet, and fruit, all in one. Using your fingers, separate the flesh from the pit (which is discarded). Chop up the umeboshi and add them directly to dishes or throw them in the blender with other ingredients like olive oil for a salad dressing or a marinade. They go especially well with duck-their tartness seems to cut right through fat-and a few flecks of them are brilliant on grilled fish or scallops. For the truly intrepid, float an umeboshi in a glass of ice-cold vodka. |
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