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Fruit from Mito, Ibaraki, Japan

Shikinbai (Mito crushed ume with shiso)紫錦梅

Firm ume are cracked with a mallet, the stones are removed, and the flesh is salted at 10–15 % of its weight. Red shiso, salted and squeezed, is added later and colours the flesh red-purple; the relish is ready once the salt has mellowed after the summer heat. It is a salt cure.

Fully documentedFruit4 days – 5 days

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceMAFF's regional-cuisine recipe for 10 servings, from the Nakagawa Gakuen cookery school.
Ume, still slightly firm10 plums[maff-shikinbai]
Salt10–15 % of the stoned flesh weight15 % for room-temperature storage, 10 % if kept in the refrigerator[maff-shikinbai]
Red shiso leaves10 % of the stoned flesh weight[maff-shikinbai]
Salt for the shiso10 % of the shiso weight[maff-shikinbai]

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 days – 5 days

Start
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What changes: Firm ume are cracked open with a mallet and the stones are removed

Step 1 of 5
Crack the plums and remove the stones
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Wash and dry each plum, put them in a thick plastic bag and crack them with a pestle on a hard surface. Soft ripe fruit can be split by hand.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Firm ume are cracked with a mallet, the stones are removed, and the flesh is salted at 10–15 % of its weight. Red shiso, salted and squeezed, is added later and colours the flesh red-purple; the relish is ready once the salt has mellowed after the summer heat. It is a salt cure. Made in 5 steps over 4 days – 5 days. The longest step, shake the jar until the salt spreads, takes 4–5 days (MAFF うちの郷土料理 (Our Regional Cuisines)). Salt is 10–15 % (MAFF うちの郷土料理 (Our Regional Cuisines)).

Key numbers
Main step4–5 daysReported[maff-shikinbai]Shake the jar until the salt spreads
Salt10–15 %Reported[maff-shikinbai]Salt the flesh

What makes this one different

Shikinbai uses blemished or misshapen ume, cracked and stoned, so it is a relish of flesh rather than whole plums. It uses less salt than umeboshi and is not sun-dried.

Related ferments

Safety

At 10 % salt the jar must be refrigerated; at 15 % keep it in a cool dark place [maff-shikinbai]. JAS 1752 sets pH 3.0 or lower for plain umezuke and umeboshi (3.5 for small plums), but the standard does not name shikinbai, so that figure is not a limit for this relish [jas1752].

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Tokugawa Nariaki, ninth lord of the Mito domain, planted the ume of Kairakuen garden and is said to have devised shikinbai to use fruit too damaged for umeboshi or ume liqueur [maff-shikinbai]. MAFF's traditional-foods illustrated guide gives the same account, dates the Kairakuen garden to 1842, and says home cooks and pickle shops in Mito still make it, and that it is still made with Kairakuen ume [maff-dento].

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [maff-shikinbai] MAFF うちの郷土料理 (Our Regional Cuisines), 紫錦梅 (shikinbai, Ibaraki); recipe from 中川学園調理技術専門学校gov
  2. [jas1752] MAFF, Japanese Agricultural Standard JAS 1752:2025, Pickled agricultural products (農産物漬物), section 4.10 umezuke and umeboshispec
  3. [maff-dento] MAFF にっぽん伝統食図鑑 (Illustrated Guide to Traditional Foods of Japan), 紫錦梅、梅びしを (Ibaraki, Mito)gov