Karikari Ume

[shinju]

My first attempt in trying to make karikari ume. Two of my cookbooks on ume basically follow the same procedure, but checking internet I am finding that some call for cleaned egg shells wrapped in a gauze being added to the pickling stage. I haven't been able to find out why egg shells are added like this.

Does anyone know?

[Hiroyuki]

Ah, you didn't know that? I think Helen is more qualified to answer your question, but the calcium in the egg shells helps keep the ume firm.

I know you can read Japanese, so I provide this link:

http://www.pickled-ume.com/info/karikari_ume.html

[shinju]

Ah, you didn't know that?  I think Helen is more qualified to answer your question, but the calcium in the egg shells helps keep the ume firm.

I know you can read Japanese, so I provide this link:

http://www.pickled-ume.com/info/karikari_ume.html

←

Thanks for this link. I wonder why calcium keeps the ume firm. I really want to make regular umeboshi, but don't feel very confident with the process. If anyone has experience with them and can give me pointers that would be much appreciated.

Also, I've tried growing akajiso for the last 3-4 years and they won't come up. Very frustrating. A very nice person from a sushi group sent me akajiso seeds from their yard that flourishes in South Carolina and even that did not come up.

I have two sizes of ume and this is the first year that I'm actually trying to use the smaller sized ume. The bigger ume is usually made into umeshu and umezu. I've been brining these for 4 days now.

[helenjp]

The calcium carbonate in the eggshells binds with the pectin in the unripe ume to form calcium pectate, which keeps the ume crunchy (also used when making dill pickles etc for the same reason). This is also how that instant dessert "fruitier" works - pectin in the solution gels the calcium in the milk (it does include other stuff though).

In my experience, peeled eggshells in gauze is underwhelming in its effectiveness. You probably need a fair old number of eggshells, and it's probably more useful to have several packages of eggshell distributed round the pickling container. You can also use sterilized shells, which you can scatter throughout the ume much more easily (maybe a better source of calcium than battery hen eggs anyway).

I'm planning to make some this year too, but I'm thinking of either using shellfish-shells rather than eggshells, or trying the commercial method below - when I made them with eggshells, they did indeed get soft and wrinkly.

My first thoughts were as noted down the bottom, but THEN I found that the Kanagawa Noukyou (Agricultural Co-op) already had a page on a home-style method: Here

500ml ume-su (ume vinegar/brine)

50g shells (shellfish or egg shells)

Bring to the boil in a glass or enamel pot, simmer for 10 minutes, cool and strain.

small green ume 2.8 kg

coarse pickling salt (for this, the more natural nigari content the better) 500g (18%, though this would be a bit lower with natural salt)

Wash and drain-dry ume, place in pickling container with 1/3 to 1/2 of salt, rub around until salt has scratched up the fruit surface.

Pour over ume-su calcium extract, mix around, place wrap over surface, weight-distribution plate, weight (about 2x weight of fruit) and cover.

After a week, add half the remaining salt, mix in, clean sides of container, clean and replace covers, lid, weights as before.

Add the remaining salt in the same way after a further week.

Pickle for 1-2 weeks longer, then drain and put into bags or containers and store in fridge. I've heard people say that karikariume should be eaten the year they are made, but I find they taste better after they have matured a little.

You can pickle them with salted red shiso, just as for ordinary red umeboshi, if you wish.

You can also buy various solutions and premixed "karikari-ume no moto" whicih provide calcium and/or coloring.

If you want to go into business, here's a rundown on the commerical method.

Soak the ume in slaked lime/calcium hydroxide (shousekkai) (0.5% solution) overnight, then transfer to pickling solution - brine with 0.1% calcium content. (Calcium chloride or enka-karushiumu).

I'm not exactly sure of the salt content for the brine, but I would be inclined to start with 8-10% salt and work up to 15%. Maybe a tad more, but certainly not more than 20%, and after 15% there is an increasing risk that your kari-kari and crunchy will end up shiwa-shiwa and soft.

[shinju]

Great information there. Thank you Helen for this. It's interesting that 2 of my ume cookbooks do not mention anything about using calcium/shells for karikari ume.

I've been munching every day to see the progress and I am amazed by the strong ume aroma as soon as I remove the dish towel from the top. It is quite heady! The taste still seems rather wild tasting to me. Is that normal at first? Also, not as salty as the store bought although I added the required amount of salt.

I have quite a bit of karikari ume and no room in the refrigerator to keep these long term. I wonder if these can be water bath processed much like regular pickling?

Edited May 20, 2008 by shinju (log)

[helenjp]

I don't think they will go moldy all that easily, after all they are ume, and they are pickled, so they should keep outside the fridge (but don't quote me on it...). Spray them with shochu every now and then if you are worried.

This week for the first time ever, I had some moldy umeboshi - I soaked them in water to remove salt, then started to dry them, in order to soak them in honey. Thanks to the horrible weather, they had a longer than usual soak, and were only half-dried when I had to bring them inside. I was waiting for another fine day...but the mold got them. However, normally salt content makes it impossible for mold to grow on properly preserved ume.

Heating them would surely soften them.

[shinju]

This week for the first time ever, I had some moldy umeboshi - I soaked them in water to remove salt, then started to dry them, in order to soak them in honey. Thanks to the horrible weather, they had a longer than usual soak, and were only half-dried when I had to bring them inside. I was waiting for another fine day...but the mold got them. However, normally salt content makes it impossible for mold to grow on properly preserved ume.

Heating them would surely soften them.

←

For drying umeboshi, how many days do you usually dry? I would think that living in California, especially with our dry summer months, drying of umeboshi will be ideal.

I have been reluctant to start umeboshi because I was worried about bugs getting on them while they are being dried. We have pretty good number of bugs in our backyard. Is that a concern?

Were you going to soak them in straight honey after their drying time?

Helen, if you have some time, will you post your recipe for umeboshi - pretty please.

[Raymond Fernandez]

I just discovered karikari ume on accident as i was shopping at Daiso. It quickly turned into an addiction. I would go every month and buy multiple bags of tomoguchi brand and smoked squid but for some unknown reason they just stopped having both products. I have tried regular umeboshi but i just haven't developed a taste for it. I live in San Francisco which i thought gave me a very good connection to products from japan but for some reason the various japanese supermarkets do not carry them. I would like to learn to make the green kari kari ume as a last resort since i can't find them but i don't read japanese so would love any recipes as well as tips etc that i can get from you amazing knowledgable ppl. Thank You in advance!

[shinju]

I think there are different styles of kari kari ume.  What I referred to as kari kari ume is ume that gets salt treatment.  The ones you are asking about is the sweeter ume boshi that's closer to dried sweetened fruit.  I love them too and I know the brand you are talking about.  And you are right, it is called kari kari ume too.  I've seen some Japanese recipes where ume is treated with sugar only but I've not tried that method.  If I find a method of making the style of Tomuguchi brand, I'll post here.   It's definitely dried and sugar or sugar substitute treated.