Umeboshi
Prunus mume · Condiment
Top 10 pairings
Umeboshi are salt-pickled ume, the apricot-like fruit of Prunus mume, cured until they collapse into soft, intensely sour-and-salty wrinkled spheres. A cornerstone of the Japanese larder, they are eaten in tiny amounts — one tucked into a bowl of rice, folded into an onigiri, or sliced as a relish — for a flavour so puckeringly acidic and saline that a single fruit can season a whole meal.
Picking a good onedrag
Sealed, plump, sour and cleanFizzing, fuzzy, off
Open and keepingEveryday bestThe workhorse for dressings, dipping sauces and simmered fish. Low-salt genen keeps less well and wants the fridge; sweetened chomi may carry katsuobushi (fish).
ColourDuller red or a browner tan, colour still even
Flesh and skinFirmer, the flesh clinging closer to the pit
The jar and the brineOpened, rim clean, fruit still moist and covered
Smell on openingSour and saline, the shiso perfume gone quiet