Japanese Pickled Plums (Umeboshi)
Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 2 Steps 14
Umeboshi (梅干, pickled Japanese plum) is a kind of pickled food. It is one of the Japanese traditional foods and it has been popular in Japan. It is red and round, and its taste ranges from sour to sweet. The texture can range from dry and crunchy to saturated and "globby", depending on the method used to preserve it.
Ingredients
- Japanese plums
- Salt, measured to 20% by weight of the plums
Steps
- Sterilize a jar and utensils with potable alcohol or boiling water.
- Remove damaged plums. Wash the remaining plums. Wipe dry.
- Remove plum stems and woody bits without damaging the fruit.
- Cover plums with cold water. Stand overnight.
- Drain. Place plums in a larger non-reactive (glass or ceramic) container.
- Layer salt and plums evenly, coating the plums well with salt.
- Place a non-reactive plate directly on the plums. Place a weight on the plate so the plums become submerged in brine.
- Cover the container with a clean cloth. Pickle in a cool dark place.
- Check after 3 days: pickling liquid should be submerging the plums, with no mold. Remove a very small amount of mold with clean utensils. Keep plums fully submerged to prevent mold and rotting.
- Re-weight the plums. Pickle another 3–4 weeks.
- Remove plums from the pickling liquid. Arrange on a bamboo mat or other woven tray. Dry outside in hot, dry, sunny weather for three full days.
- Strain the pickling liquid. Boil to remove impurities.
- Rub salt into the shiso to remove scum. Squeeze out the liquid.
- Put plums, shiso and boiled liquid into a clean jar. Store in the fridge.
Notes from the original
- The high salt proportion inhibits microbial growth and ensures that the plums pickle properly—don't reduce it.
- A variety of items can be used to weight down the plums. Examples include a heavy, clean rock; a bottle of water; a bag of pie weights; a heavy crock or pot/pan; etc. The weight should be clean and should not touch the plums directly.
- Damaged plums can increase the likelihood of mold growth, so it's important not to use them.
- Adding red shiso leaves to the pickling mixture yields redder plums and a deep red plum vinegar. If you want to do this, measure the shiso leaves to 20% of the weight of the plums. Wash and dry the shiso, then measure out salt to 10% of the shiso weight. Massage the shiso and salt together well for several minutes to release its astringent liquid, then squeeze out the shiso and discard all the liquid. Repeat the salting and massaging process with the same amount of salt as before, and discard the liquid again. The shiso should be added to the pickling mixture once the pickling liquid has covered the plums.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Japanese Pickled Plums (Umeboshi)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-26, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.