Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

umeboshi


torakris

Recommended Posts

Hiroyuki - your umekatsuo recipe sounds good.

Thank you for saying so, but this recipe is not my invention but what I learned from a TV program several years ago. I usually don't follow any recipe exactly, and this one is no exception. I think that I should leave out the soy sauce; umeboshi are salty enough and why should I make them saltier?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Funny you mention not including shoyu with umeboshi because of saltiness. I always put a dab of shoyu when I eat umeboshi and two of my nephews acted like they have never seen anyone do that.

After I eat umeboshi, I always drop the seed into my hot tea. It's very tasty that way and have been doing that since I was a kid.

Thank you Kris for the welcome. It's great to find Japan food related group. Although I love to cook all types of food, Japanese cooking is my passion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you ever eaten your umeboshi dipped in sugar?

I had this at an onsen (hot spring) a little while back, when we arrived a "snack" was set out of hot tea and two bowls, one with umeboshi and one with brown sugar.

My MIL told me this was a common treat for visitors to onsens, though I am not sure it was particular to that area or not. It was quite good though....

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ume ika shiso maki. Perfection! :raz:

Jaypm51,

welcome to egullet and the Japan board! :biggrin:

I never thought of throwing ika (squid) in there, but I often make a roll with ume paste and shiso. Ume and shiso is an incredible combination.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Torakris,

Thanks much for your gracious welcome. I agree. Ume and shiso are a woderful combination as are squid and shiso. Try a roll with all three and I promise you gustatory happiness. I'd love your feedback. Easy on the sqid, balance is everything. :rolleyes:

Jay

You are what you eat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I picked up this at the store yesterday

i8855.jpg

it is a snack consisting of two pieces of wonderfully crisp nori, sandwiching tiny pieces of ume. I am really enjoying this at this very moment. :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I found this at the store about an hour ago

i8867.jpg

umeboshi kimchi

The first bite was strange witht he combination of the flavors, but by the second bite I was really enjoying it. I doubt it will become a regular condiment in our house though as that tiny container cost over 700 yen ($7).

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow - this potato salad sounds so Japanese. It sounds very intriguing though. I like to use umeboshi in salad dressing and with fish. But, my favorite way to eat it is just pop it in my mouth and eat it like a snack or grind some umeboshi with a bit of shoyu and dip homemade tofu or yuba and eat. So wonderful!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Had my first umeboshi experience last night...it looked so sweet and yummy and innocent in its little plastic wrapper...just like a candy...so of course when I popped the whole darn thing in my mouth and bit in, I was totally unprepared for how sour and salty it was!!! (My mouth is puckering involuntarily as I write this. ) Of course, I had also forgotten about the pit inside. I had eaten it in the middle of Japanese language class and it was all I could do to keep from spitting it out.

But I have to admit, the flavor kind of grew on me once I got over the initial shock.

Later I did notice, though, that my classmates (older and obviously more experienced with this particular thing) were carefully taking small, measured bites out of THEIR umeboshi.

Anyone else had an umeboshi adventure out there?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

remember not all umeboshi are created equally!

If it was one of the individually wrapped ones it was probably the snack style that tend to be more sour than the "regular" ones. Umeboshi have various salt contents, one with only 8% salt will not taste nearly as salty as one with 18%. If you are looking for a really easy to eat one look for the hachimitsu (honey) ones, these are quite mild.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My students were sharing out a pack of those crunchy sour individually wrapped umeboshi in class yesterday, trying to beat the heat in our unairconditioned classroom.

The first big batch of this year's umeboshi is due to finish drying and be packed into barrels today! They're reeeeally sour and salty at this point, give 'em a year or three and they'll mellow considerably.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Looks great, Kristin! I'll have to give it a shot. Do recommend going light or heavy on the umeboshi?

JJ Goode

Co-author of Serious Barbecue, which is in stores now!

www.jjgoode.com

"For those of you following along, JJ is one of these hummingbird-metabolism types. He weighs something like eleven pounds but he can eat more than me and Jason put together..." -Fat Guy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks great, Kristin! I'll have to give it a shot. Do recommend going light or heavy on the umeboshi?

heavy! I did it too lightly thinking it would be too strong but it ended up being too weak... But also I used the hachimitsu (honey) umeboshi that are sweeter and not as salty.

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Today at the Japanese Grocery store here, there were a few fancy new import products:

Ume-gobo

Looked something like this:

http://www.snipe.jp/blog/kitchen/archives/000204.html

Ume-warabi-mochi

Looked like beautiful pink cubes of warabi-mochi.

Ume-mochi (regular mochi, not warabi)

maybe looked like this?

http://f.hatena.ne.jp/fui/20050213144000

Ume-takuan (pickled daikon with ume paste)

Anyone tried any of these? (especially the first two). They were too expensive to just try for fun. I wonder why there were so many Ume products today...seasonal?? for Hina-matsuri (girls day)??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

February is ume blossom season!!

All around my house are the beautiful ume trees in full bloom and the Ume Matsuri(festival) in Atami is in full swing. We have gone a couple times in the past but I don't think we are going to make it this year.... :sad:

I recently picked ip these wonderul shiso maki umeboshi (pickled plums with their seeds removed and individually wrapped in a shiso leaf

gallery_6134_549_45126.jpg

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like to make ume dressing (honey umeboshi paste, rice wine vinegar, oil, sugar, salt/pepper). The taste of ume is quite subtle and not overpowering.

I like the idea of using umeboshi in potato salad.:cool:

Baker of "impaired" cakes...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The bag on the left, the kari kari ume are my absolute favorites, my Japanese friends all thing I am little strange for preferring those over other snacks.....

Do those shiso maki ume have seeds? they look much bigger than mine. Aren't they great? :biggrin:

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My mother in law borught us these from Japan the other day. Crunchy whole garlic cloves with umeboshi paste and bonito flakes. I became obsessed with these...they are abslolutely delicious..

When we run out, we'll try to make it at home :rolleyes:

gallery_23913_670_25852.jpg

"A chicken is just an egg's way of making another egg." Samuel Butler
Link to comment
Share on other sites

These are a favorite of my MIL and I often eat them at here house. I just ordered a 3 pack set of pickled garlic from my co-op (will be here next Tuesday) consisting of shoyu pickled, ume pickled and a sweetened vinegar pickle type...

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello everyone,

I am so excited to find other people that have had kari kari ume. This is my absolute favorite food! I used to get it from a local Japanese market but they closed down and since then all I have been able to find are the mushy ume which really are not the same for me. The ones I have been eating that I like the best are green kari kari ume although I also love the red ones that taste very similar. So I am really hoping someone on this site can help me with my ume craving. Is there anywhere online that you know of where I can order kari kari ume? Also, can I please have a recipe for making them? I have searched in several markets but they only have the ones in jars and have no idea what I am talking about.

Thanks so much!

Ariel, who is missing her crunchy treats :biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...