Umeboshi

What are umeboshi plums?

Umeboshi are Japanese salted plums with a flavour so bracing it makes you sit up. Despite the name, ume are a type of apricot native to East Asia, prized in Japan for centuries as both a seasoning and a folk remedy. Raw ume are far too tart and bitter to eat straight. Pickling is what turns them into something extraordinary.

The traditional method takes months. Ripe ume are packed with sea salt to draw out their juice, weighed down under a stone, then sun-dried on bamboo mats for three or four days. Red shiso leaves are folded in for their crimson colour and herbal edge. What emerges is a Japanese pickled plum with wrinkled skin, soft flesh and a punch of citric acid that hits sour, salty and faintly savoury all at once. Our whole umeboshi plums are premium Nanko ume from the Kishu region – considered the finest Japanese salted plums in the world.

How to cook with umeboshi and Japanese sour plums

A little umeboshi goes a long way. Traditionally, one whole umeboshi plum is tucked into a bowl of white rice or the centre of an onigiri, where its sourness cuts through starchy comfort and sharpens every mouthful. Try one alongside grilled fish, in ochazuke (rice with green tea poured over) or nestled into a bento box.

For everyday cooking, our umeboshi paste is easier to reach for. Whisk a small spoonful into a salad dressing with sesame oil, stir it through mayonnaise for sandwich fillings, or use it to season steamed vegetables. Ume plum vinegar brings the same tart-salty note in liquid form. It's brilliant on cucumber, avocado or a simple bowl of rice. The dark ume plum vinegar has a deeper, more mellow character, closer to aged balsamic.

Beyond the plums themselves, we stock furikake and toasted sesame seeds threaded with ume for sprinkling over rice, ume kosho for a spicy-sour heat you can dab onto grilled meats, and green ume plum syrup for cordials and cocktails. We also stock umeshu, the Japanese sour plum sake that's become an aperitif in its own right. Whichever form you choose, expect a flavour that clears the palate and asks for another bite.