MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

Title: Umeboshi
Categories: Japanese
Yield: 1 Batch

2 kg Japanese plums (fully
-ripened)
300 g Sea salt
2 tb Shochu (Japanese distilled
-liquor)

MMMMM----------------IF MAKING RED PERILLA UMEBOS---------------------
2 bn Red perilla
2 tb Sea salt

Soak fully ripened Japanese plums in plenty of water for about 4
hours to remove harsh taste and then drain.

Remove black parts (hull) using a bamboo skewer.

Wipe off the water from each plum to remove excess.

Put the plums in a bowl and sprinkle 1 tb of distilled liquor. Mix
with hands to blend.

Put the rest of the distilled liquor in the pickle jar to sterilize
it, then sprinkle a handful of sea salt.

Cover each of the Japanese plums with sea salt.

Place them in the container. After finishing the first layer,
sprinkle sea salt and repeat.

Once all of the Japanese plums have been put in the container, put in
the remaining sea salt. Place clinging wrap to cover the plums
completely.

Place a weight (for example, a stone) that matches the weight of the
plums on top. Shake the container once a day and keep it in a cool
dark place for 5 days.

Soak well until the Japanese plums start to soften and sink in the
jar.

Nip out just the leaves of red perilla as only the leaves will be
used.

Wash them with plenty of water.

Put 1 tb of sea salt on the leaves and wash by pressing. Use gloves to
massage hard as hands will get rough and dry.

Clear away the water extracted from the leaves and wash again with 1
tb of sea salt by pressing, then squeeze the water out.

Remove clinging wrap from 10 and add red perilla. Move the container
to allow the red perilla to absorb the Japanese plum pickling sauce.

Place a weight on top and keep it in a cool fark place for about one
month with a lid on.

Remove Japanese plums and dry them on a bamboo strainer for 3 days
and 3 nights.

Dry red perilla until it has completely dried out.

Keep picking sauce from the plums outside for a day. Cover the mouth
with a cloth so that insects can't get in.

Shake the container occasionally and expose to the sunlight.

Put the plums back in the pickling sauce while they are warm. Once the
dried ingredients are reconstituted, they are ready to eat.

If they need to be preserved for a while, put the Japanese plums back
into a container with the pickling sauce and seal.

Make dried perilla Yukari. Finely chop red perilla. It can last for
up to a year if preserved in a bottle.

Tips:

Use fully ripened Japanese plums. Those still green or yellow are not
ripened and can't absorb flavors to the core and so will not taste
good.

Recipe by Japanese Cooking Recipes by Fumiyo Kawakami, 2012

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