Highly salted pickled plums, or umeboshi, have been a beloved part of the Japanese diet for centuries, prized for their preservative qualities and health benefits as well as their distinctive mouth-puckering sourness and salty tang. The assertive mixture of salt and sour make them a hard taste for some to acquire, though. Younger Japanese today are also eating far fewer umeboshi than previous generations did. However, proponents are fighting back, arguing that the combination of health benefits and unique flavor make the humble umeboshi the ideal superfood for the twenty-first century.
Umeboshi: A Rising International Star?
Headquartered in Wakayama city, the company produces its luxury brand Kishū Nankō-ume at its factory in Minabe in the Hidaka district of Wakayama Prefecture, an area famous for ume plums. After painstaking quality control, these supersized plums are individually packaged and are popular choices as gifts. Suzuki, confident in the quality of his company’s product, had grown used to success, making the less-than-positive reaction of tasters in Turkey all the more distressing.
Suzuki (right) with ume farmer Kubo Ryūji. The two say they must take on new challenges to boost the value of the area’s plums.
Pucker up: It’s Good for You!
People in Japan have eaten umeboshi for centuries, having learned from experience of their restorative and preservative properties along with their virtues in helping to ward off colds and other bugs. People during the Heian Period (794–1185) used umeboshi as medicine. During the Sengoku period (1467–1568), an era of widespread military conflict among warlords, a concoction of umeboshi with rice flour and a rock candy known as umeboshi-gan was treasured by samurai as a long-keeping field ration.
To this day, though, the active ingredients of umeboshi and their health-giving effects are not widely known among the public. For this reason, Minabe recently established a dedicated department in the town hall to promote the area’s plums. Its activities include holding ume-themed events and it has even published a manga explaining the health benefits of the local specialty.
(Clockwise from top left): Minabe town hall; the ume department, plastered with posters promoting the fruit; in 2014, the town passed a local by-law promoting serving rice balls with umeboshi.
Umeboshi derives its distinctive tartness from citric acid. Ume contain the highest concentration of citric acid of any fruit, and even a small one contains anything from two to three times as much citric acid as a lemon.
Citric acid, along with lending umeboshi a mouth-watering sourness that sharpens the appetite, improves circulation and boosts the immune system, reducing the chances of coming down with a cold or catching a nasty bout of the flu. It has also been shown to limit the activity of the pylori bacterium, a leading cause of gastroenteritis, stomach ulcers, and stomach cancer. In addition, it boosts energy and aids the body in recovery after exertion by helping break down and flush out lactic acid, one of the causes of physical fatigue.
Nankō-ume, the pride of Wakayama, from Kubo’s orchard. The name comes from a local school that helped develop the new strain.
Umeboshi contain benzoic acid, a key component of its preservative properties and an important part of the aroma. The compound limits the ability of bacteria to proliferate, a trait thought to be one of the reasons for the popularity of umeboshi in rice balls as an easy, portable meal.
Umeboshi are a good source of polyphenols, which are thought to reduce the risk of diabetes, help lower blood pressure, prevent hardening of the arteries, and boost calcium absorption. In addition, it has been recently found that heating umeboshi produces vanillin, a chemical that helps to restrict the bloating of fat cells, providing potential support for people trying to control their weight.
One potential drawback is the high sodium content, though this makes umeboshi an effective way of combatting the dangers of heatstroke during the brutal Japanese summer. Nonetheless, it is probably a good idea to avoid consuming too many on a daily basis.
Shira-boshi plums have a high sodium content, but many locals say these salty ume are the best of all.
There is no denying that umeboshi, even among die-hard fans, are an acquired taste. Parents generally tell children to eat umeboshi because they are considered healthy or add them to lunch boxes for their preservative effects, and in this way offspring gradually acquire a taste for the pickled fruit. Some advanced-level connoisseurs have been known to enjoy the plums on their own, but for most people the umeboshi are usually served as an accompaniment to a meal of rice, helping to bring out the overall flavor of the food and adding a subtle accent of its own.
However, young people in Japan have been eating fewer umeboshi in recent years. According to the Survey of Household Economy carried out by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the volume of umeboshi bought by a typical household in the course of a year dropped by 30% between 2002 and 2016, from 1,050 grams to 750 grams.
Keenly aware of the potential of the overseas market, in April 2017 Shōkibai launched an ume concierge service that suggests new ways of enjoying umeboshi. Suzuki says the idea is to use the brand to establish a position for umeboshi as a distinctively Japanese flavoring. “We want to develop its potential to be enjoyed as a condiment, a bit like mayonnaise or dressing,” he says.
Products already on sale include an ume purée that has a lightly smoked flavor and umeboshi paste with slivers of truffles and Compté cheese from France. The Ume purée can be served as an accompaniment to steak, fish dishes, and salads, while the cheese-and-truffles combination makes a tasty appetizer to serve with wine.
(Clockwise from top): Ume can be used to add a unique flavor to many kinds of dishes; ume served with cheese and truffles; packages of smoked ume purée.
Suzuki hopes the concierge service will boost ume’s international appeal by serving as a gateway for foreigners to experience the taste of umeboshi in an enjoyable way. He does not want it to stop there, though. “The idea is that they will then move on from these products to sample the joys and health benefits of the genuine umeboshi,” he says.
A plum grower, one of Shōkibai’s contract cultivators, shows off a basket of Nankō- ume.