If you're Japanese, this picture will make your mouth full of saliva. These are umeboshi, Japanese sour plums preserved in a Japanese traditional way. My mother gave me this umeboshi , which are fifteen years old, when I left Japan. It is such a popular food for Japanese that quite a few Japanese bring umeboshi with them when they travel abroad. We have it in various way such as rice-ball, congee, and just with steamed rice. The combination of umeboshi and rice is one of the most popular Japanese dishes. But there is a strange superstition, that is if you have umbeboshi and tempura at the same time, you'll have stomack-ache.
How long can you keep them preserved? Is it like certain types of alcohol that become better (and much more expensive) with age? Fascinating...
kh
Posted by: Kathy Hand | October 17, 2004 at 12:07 PM
Umeboshi can be kept for more than hundred years. Similar to wine, there are good years and bad years of umeboshi. Aged umeboshi is milder in taste. But I hear that 100 year old umeboshi tastes just like salt.
Posted by: mochi | October 19, 2004 at 02:08 AM
If you're Japanese, this picture will make your mouth saliva. These are umeboshi, Japanese sour plums preserved in a Japanese traditional way. My mother gave me this umeboshi , which are fifteen years old, when I left Japan. It is such a popular food for Japanese that quite a few Japanese bring umeboshi with them when they travel abroad. We have it in various way such as rice-ball, congee, and just with steamed rice. The combination of umeboshi and rice is one of the most popular Japanese dishes. But there is a strange superstition, that is if you have umbeboshi and tempura at the same time, you'll have stomachache.
Posted by: Corrector | October 19, 2004 at 02:19 AM
I found several jars of my father's ume recently. There are clear-ish, gelatin like pieces that seem to have replaced the liquid.
Is this safe to eat? My husband tried some and it tasted fine........ salty and sour, just the way we like it.
Posted by: M Hasegawa | January 23, 2005 at 02:20 PM
I found several jars of my father's ume recently. There are clear-ish, gelatin like pieces that seem to have replaced the liquid.
Is this safe to eat? My husband tried some and it tasted fine........ salty and sour, just the way we like it.
Posted by: M Hasegawa | January 23, 2005 at 02:20 PM
I assure your fater's umeboshi is safe. I think it gets dry and more tasty in a few years.
Posted by: mochi | January 23, 2005 at 02:53 PM
I have exactly what info I want. Check, please. Wait, it's free? Awsoeme!
Posted by: Essence | January 26, 2014 at 11:13 AM