| Have you ever wondered about... |
UMEBOSHI? |
Source: e-mail circulated piece.
By Audrey Wilson, Hawaii Tribune
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Umeboshi is a salty, sour pickle that we often eat in a musubi (rice ball) or when we are sick, with okai or o-kahu (rice gruel). In Japan, it is usually served with breakfast gohan (rice), with a cup of tea. Food authority Robbie Swinterton compares eating an umeboshi to the culinary equivalent of taking a cold shower. "The abrupt, searingly tart, tangy, salty taste jolts the eyes open, shakes the stomach awake, sandpapers off any staleness from the taste buds, and gets the day off to an unforgettable start." |
We have always known umeboshi as a pickled plum but it is actually a Japanese apricot, prunus or Armeniaca mume. If you examine the pit, it resembles an apricot more than a plum.
So how are umeboshi made, you ask. From mid-June to mid-July, the rainy season in Japan, the fruit is soaked in water to get rid of its bitter taste. Then they’re drained and wiped dry, and sprayed with shochu (Japanese distilled rice liquor). They are then put in a container for pickling, mixed with salt and weighted down with a heavy stone. Pressing the fruit down is very important in the making of umeboshi, which takes about six weeks. After that, perilla leaves (beefsteak or shiso) are washed, sprinkled with salt, all excess liquid squeezed out, leaves broken apart and combined with the salted ume. The heavy stone is again placed over the mixture, which is allowed to pickle for another week. During a sunny day at the end of July, the fruit is dried outside for three days and nights.
The center of the umeboshi industry is in Ryujin village, in Wakayama Prefecture, on the main island of Honshu. Their traditional method of making umeboshi is a "lactic-acid fermentation" process, one of the oldest and safest ways of preserving food. Wakayama umeboshi is mellow and not as salty as the typical umeboshi we know. Lactic-acid-forming bacteria grow and create an acidic environment, and emit carbon dioxide that contributes to the favorable anaerobic condition and further stimulates the growth of the good bacteria.
Salt, rice vinegar, and shiso leaves are added. After a year of aging, the remaining red liquid is bottled and sold as umeboshi vinegar. This condiment is versatile for making dressing and is available locally at the natural foods stores and some supermarkets.
The best, most prized and most expensive umeboshi is called the Kishu ume from Wakayama Prefecture. Aged 5 years, it has the thinnest skin, the smallest seed and a soft, thick fruit. Eight large, individually wrapped Kishu ume cost about $30.
Here is a simple dressing using minced umeboshi or paste.
Sesame Umeboshi Dressing
Makes 3/4 cup
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste), available at Abundant Life, Keaau Natural Foods and Island Naturals
1 tablespoon umeboshi paste or minced umeboshi
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
4 tablespoons water
2 small clove garlic, minced
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth, adding more water if needed. Use on grain salad, pasta salads, steamed or blanched broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower or green beans.
A little umeboshi paste added to tonkatsu sauce gives the sauce a nice kick and flavor.
When drinking sake or shochu, adding ume instead of an olive as a garnish gives the drink an interesting twist.
SMALL BITES
The first umeboshi was found in China, where a dried smoked plum, called ubai, was discovered in a tomb more than 1,000 years ago. It was used to prevent fatigue, purify water, rid the body of toxins and cure dysentery, typhoid and food poisoning. The first umeboshi appeared [in Japan?] before the Nara period in the years 710-794, and was first introduced as a medicine.
During the samurai period, umeboshi flavored the samurai's rice and vegetables, and purified his water and food. It also helped samurai suffering from battle fatigue.
About 200 years ago, the Japanese made a plum extract, or "bainiku ekisu." They made this extract by slowly cooking sour green ume fruit to obtain the most active ingredients in a highly concentrated form. The resulting dark, sticky, thick liquid is mixed with hot water and honey and drunk as a tonic. The dried form of this extract is formed into pills and called "meitan." Because this extracting process contains no salt, it is a treatment for high blood pressure.
Ume extract, when applied to the skin, has been found to cure ringworms and athlete's foot.
Some touted health benefits of umeboshi include prevention of aging, purification of the blood, vitalization, as a preservative for food and helping with fatigue.
Saliva contains a hormone which prevents aging and when you just look at an ume, you will certainly salivate, thereby helping to prevent aging.
Umeboshi is an alkaline food, which helps to discharge wastes and clean our blood, and if our blood is clean, our bodies will be revitalized.
A musubi is made ahead of time to be eaten later. Adding an ume in the center of the rice ball will prevent the rice from going bad because it acts as a sterilizer and antibacterial agent.
The salt and citric acid in umeboshi helps ease fatigue. In addition, the pyric acid in umeboshi enhances liver function, helps break down the alcohol in the liver so drinking lots of green tea and umeboshi can help when you have a hangover.
By Gail Sharp
HELLOOO-Hellooo-hellooo…
Wow, I can hear myself echo in the empty e-mailbox!
Okay, I’m going to drop some hints about the February Talk Story photograph. The first time you saw this photo was back in the September 2006 newsletter when Tom Ikemoto wrote the last Venice Fishing Club news article. The photo made a second appearance in May 2007 when wonderful and much missed friend Joyce Hirota wrote about the legacy of the Fishing Club – its long and widely shared history and its famous Fried Chicken Wings with Sweet and Sour Sauce plate that was always a VJCC Festival favorite no matter anyone’s cholesterol level!
My family wasn’t a member of the Fishing Club but a couple of the faces in the photograph are very familiar to me. The first person on the left is Hisa Miya. I didn’t know Hisa was a fisherman but I do know that he was responsible for all of the electric lights shining in and around the VJCC Festival booths for many, many years! The third person from the left is George Shintaku. Now George I always knew to be an avid fisherman. George was our across-the-street neighbor. The first time that I went fishing, guess who I ran into at a gas station on the way up to Crowley Lake. Yup, you guessed it… George!
Even if you don’t know much about the photo, if some of the faces are familiar to you, email or call. It would be wonderful to hear a voice announce “You have mail” at talkstory@vjcc.com.