Ume for Beginners By BJH in Culture Sun Aug 01, 2004 at 09:46:20 PM EST Tags: Food (all tags)
	The ume, or Japanese Apricot, is an interesting little fruit, and it has the added cachet of being Japanese, so obviously there are hordes of ravening fanboys out there just waiting to read a detailed description of this mouth-puckering delicacy.

The ume is a member of the Rosaceae family, along with such plants as the apple and pear, and more surprisingly, the rose, loquat and strawberry. As its scientific name Prunus mume indicates, it is of the genus Prunus, which also contains the almond, (Western) apricot, cherry, peach and plum. While it is supposedly called the Japanese Apricot in English, it is more commonly (and confusingly) referred to as a plum. The typical ume tree is quite similar in appearance to a cherry or peach tree; the flowers are scented, and bloom in February/March, slightly earlier than the more well-known sakura (Japanese cherry blossom). Ume are generally divided into two distinct categories -- hanaume, or "flower ume", grown for the beauty of its blossom, and miume, or "fruit ume". A miume tree bears a small, round edible fruit between May and July, similar to a undersized apricot. Indeed, it is quite common for ume to be crossed with anzu (the Japanese equivalent to the Western apricot), producing a slightly larger, softer fruit. The early fruit are of a distinctive green colour (known as aoume, which not surprisingly translates as "green ume"), with later fruit tending towards a yellowish color. More than 350 distinct varieties of ume are known in Japan; a book from 1901 gave a total of 343, which form the basis for all modern varieties. This diversity is the result of vigorous crossing of natural varieties in the Edo period (1603-1867), a relatively peaceful era in Japanese history where people could pursue such leisures as they pleased. Some of the more common types are "Nankou", "Bungo", and "Koushuu Saishou". The fruit of the first is medium-sized, being 25g to 30g in weight; the second is one of the largest varieties, up to 80g in weight, but unfortunately more fibrous in nature than smaller types; the last is one of the smallest varieties, a mere 3-5g in weight. It is also one of the earliest, being harvestable in late May. However, in recent years domestically cultivated fruit has become considerably more expensive, leading to a growing import industry, with Taiwan as the main supplier. The edible varieties of fruit are not eaten raw, but rather processed in various ways to make them palatable. The reason for this is not just the hardness of the raw fruit, but also the fact that the seeds of early-harvest, green fruit contain a not insignificant amount of a compound which, in contact with oxygen, breaks down to prussic acid (also known as hydrocyanic acid). If the seed fractures inside the fruit (a not uncommon occurrence), the raw fruit becomes dangerously poisonous, leading to the Japanese proverb "Ume wo kuu to mo sane kuu na, naka ni Tenjin nete gozaru", which translates roughly to "Even if you eat (the meat of) an ume, don't eat the seed; Tenjin sleeps inside", and can be interpreted as "If you eat ume seeds, you're going to end up getting your stomach pumped, sucker." I could write another entire article on the origin of the Japanese god known as Tenjin (and maybe I will), but I'll forgo that for the moment and just mention that Tenjin was, in his most ancient form, a generic thunder god; this changed after a government minister named Sugawara no Michizane (845-903) was treated badly by his political opponents and came back from death as a total badass, calling down lightning on the descendants of those responsible for ousting him from power. This obvious association with thunder lead to him assuming the role of the older Tenjin. Tenjin's link with ume does not end with the above proverb; ume trees are often found growing within shrines dedicated to his worship. Other Japanese proverbs revolving around the ume include the following: "Umeboshi to tomodachi wa furui hodo yoi": Pickled ume and friends -- the older, the better. [Means what it says, but forms an interesting contrast to the proverb "Nyoubou to tatami wa atarashii hou ga yoi": "Wives and floor mats -- the newer, the better."] "Ume ni uguisu": A Japanese nightingale in an ume tree. [Indicates two things that go well together.] "Sakura kiru baka, ume kiranu baka": Idiots who trim cherry trees, idiots who don't trim ume trees. [Cherry trees will rot from the stumps of trimmed branches, whereas ume trees will eventually no longer bear blossom if they are not cut back regularly. It could be interpreted as "Know what you're doing or you're a git".] "Sakon no ume": Sakon's ume. [Sakon and Ukon (originating from "Sakonoe/Ukonoe", literally "Left Guards/Right Guards") are two traditional posts charged with protecting the Emperor. In the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, there are two large trees known as "Sakon no sakura" (Sakon's cherry tree) and "Ukon no tachibana" (Ukon's orange tree). Originally, an ume tree grew at the location of the cherry tree; in the reign of Emperor Murakami (946-967, the 62nd emperor of Japan), this tree was destroyed by fire. A servant of the Emperor ordered his daughter to donate her favourite ume tree as a replacement. To express her sorrow at the departure of the tree, she wrote the poem "Choku nareba itomo kashiko shi uguisu no yado wa to towaba ikaga kotaen" (there are several variations on this, so those of you who are ancient Japanese poetry fanatics, please don't beat me up over minor differences), which translates to something like "As the Emperor as ordered me to give you up, I shall do so, but if the nightingale should ask where his roost has gone, how should I reply?" Depending on your level of cultural sensitivity and appreciation for art, this may strike you as a beautiful expression of the depth of her sorrow or unshakeable proof that she was a nutcase. Apparently the Emperor fell into the former category; he returned the tree to her and ordered that a cherry tree be planted in its place. As to what this proverb is actually intended to mean, I have no idea -- I only included it because it let me tell you about this whole episode, so feel free to make up your own interpretations.] Now, on to what you've all been waiting for -- how many different ways are there of consuming the fruit of the ume? Let's start with a recipe for umeboshi (also known as pickled plums[sic]), the form of ume with which you're most likely to come into contact if you frequent Japanese restaurants. Ingredients Semi-ripe ume, 1Kg (be aware that ume don't store well raw, so make sure to start this recipe as soon as possible after purchase) Salt, 200g (use natural sea salt if possible) Akajiso/Akashiso, 100g (also known as "red beefsteak leaves" or "red perilla") Just multiply the amounts of salt and akajiso by however many kilograms of ume you may have at hand. Let's begin: Prepare a glass or other non-reactive vessel by disinfecting it in boiling water and drying it thoroughly. Wash the ume, being careful not to damage the skin. Remove any stalks with a knife or skewer. Leave the ume in water for one night. Remove them from the water and dry them carefully (any remaining water will cause them to go moldy later on). Place a thin layer of salt in the bottom of the prepared vessel. Place a layer of ume and a layer of salt in the vessel in turn until you run out of ume. Increase the amount of salt in each layer as you proceed. Try and work it so that you have about one third of the salt left at the end. Place the remaining salt on the top of the last layer of ume. Place a flat lid (preferably ceramic) on top of the salt, and a heavy weight on top of the lid (twice the weight of the ume you used is about right). It should look like this (also see link #6 from my sources below for a good view of the process):       #######  <-Weight     | ####### |     | @@@@@@@ |<- Lid     |.........|<-Salt     |OOOOOOOOO|<-Ume     |.........|<-Salt     |OOOOOOOOO|<-Ume     |.........|<-Salt     |OOOOOOOOO|<-Ume     |.........|<-Salt     |OOOOOOOOO|<-Ume     |.........|<-Salt     ----------- Wrap the entire thing up in whatever your local variant of clear plastic kitchen wrap is, and leave it in a cool, well-ventilated place. Shake the vessel once a day. After three to five days, you should see some liquid coming up over the lid. If you do, switch the weight with one about half as heavy. If you don't, then you didn't put in enough salt or your first weight wasn't heavy enough. Once enough liquid has appeared, drain about half of it off. This liquid is white ume vinegar; it'll be used later, so keep it stashed in your refrigerator. Store the vessel again for another week or two. Wash the akajiso leaves and dry them off. Prepare an amount of salt equal to about 20% of the akajiso by weight. Put the leaves in a bowl, sprinkle half the salt over them, and squeeze the leaves in your hands strongly enough for juice to come out. Do this twice, throwing away the liquid from the leaves each time. Pour some of the white ume vinegar over the akajiso leaves and toss them in it. It should change colour to a bright scarlet. Pour the akajiso leaves and (now red) ume vinegar over the ume and gently shake the vessel, so as to spread the colour evenly across all the ume. Place the lid back on the ume and put a weight about half as heavy as the ume on top of it. Store the vessel again. If any ume or akajiso appear above the liquid in the vessel, pour more white ume vinegar in until it covers everything. If you should find any mold on the top, remove it gently and add more white ume vinegar or some shouchuu (potato liquor; pretty much any unflavoured white liquor should do in a pinch). Leave it for another week or two. I hope you've chosen a sunny time of year to do this, by the way, because now we get to the fiddly part, and you're going to need four fine days in a row. On the morning of the first day, place the ume on flat bamboo baskets (if you can't get them, anything that passes through liquids should be OK, such as shallow sieves) and leave them in the sun. Cover the vessel containing the liquid from the ume with plastic wrap and place it in the sun, as well (obviously this won't work very well if your vessel isn't transparent; if it isn't, don't bother with this step). Turn the ume over once during the day. At dusk, return the ume to the vessel containing the liquid and store it again. On the second day, do the same thing with the ume as you did on the first day, but this time leave them out overnight. Transfer the liquid to a suitable container and put it in your refrigerator. On the third day, do the same thing with the ume as you did on the second day. Again, leave them out overnight. On the fourth day, get up before the sun rises and put the ume into a disinfected jar for storage. Take the akajiso out of the liquid, squeeze it and put it in between and on top of the ume in the jar. You can add some of the liquid at this point, or not; it's up to you. Place the tightly lidded jar in a cool, dark place. When you feel like eating a pickled plum, open up the jar, take however many you want out, re-lid the jar and store it again. These things will last just about forever as long as you avoid mold, so don't bother hurrying to finish them off. Phew. If you actually managed to get through that entire rigmarole, you're a more determined person that I am; I usually just buy my umeboshi ready-made (they ship overseas as well). Anyway, for our next trick let's look at umeshu -- in other words, ume liquor, something that I'm sure will appeal to the tipplers among us. Ingredients Aoume, 1Kg (choose ume with unmarked skins) Rock sugar, 0.5-1Kg (the lower the sugar content, the longer your umeshu will take to be drinkable) White liquor, 1.8l ("white liquor" is the Japanese term for clear, unflavoured ethyl alcohol intended for human consumption, but pretty much anything with a high alcohol content will do -- brandy or whisky is fine) Again, just multiply the amounts of the other ingredients by however many kilograms of ume you may be using. Right, here we go: Prepare a glass or other non-reactive vessel by disinfecting it in boiling water and drying it thoroughly. Wash the ume and carefully wipe off any water (again, any remaining water will cause them to go moldy later on). Remove any stalks with a knife or skewer. Pierce the skins of each ume with a fork or skewer in several places. Place a layer of ume and a layer of sugar in the vessel in turn until you run out of ume. It should look something like this at the end. Pour in the white liquor and seal the vessel. Store it in a cool, dark place for at least three months, occasionally shaking it. You can start drinking it after the three months are up, but there's no problem with leaving it for a year or more. You should, however, remove the ume after six months or so, or you may find your liquor to resemble jam more than anything else (in fact, if you add in some sugar, the ume can be turned into a quite acceptable jam for use on your morning toast). That's pretty much it -- I hoped you found something you didn't know about the humble Japanese ume in this article. Editorial comments appreciated, of course. Sources The main source for this article. Some people might accuse me of blatantly ripping it off; if so, I suggest that those people consider the effort involved in translating the relevant bits into a form understandable to someone who wouldn't know an ume from Adam's balls. A list of ume-related Japanese expressions. ...And another one. A recipe for umeshu, with pictures. A page showing the steps involved in making umeboshi, with pictures. ...And another one.

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flowers umeboshi Akajiso/Ak ashiso Remove any stalks with a knife or skewer. link #6 buy my umeboshi ready-made ship overseas Rock sugar this The main source for this article. A list of ume-related Japanese expressions. ...And another one. A recipe for umeshu, with pictures. A page showing the steps involved in making umeboshi, with pictures. ...And another one. [2] Also by BJH