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Fermentation Atlas

Fruit from Japan

Umeboshi (salted dried ume)梅干し

Ripe ume are packed with 20 % salt under a weight until their own sour juice, umezu, covers them. After about a month they are sun-dried for three or four days in high summer; many are coloured red with salted red shiso. Made in 6 steps over 2.2 months. The longest step, keep in the umezu, takes 30 days (MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture). Salt is 20 % (MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture).

Key numbers
Main step30 daysSet[maff-wakayama][maff-imadoki]Keep in the umezu
Salt20 %Set[maff-wakayama][maff-imadoki]Salt the ume and weigh them down
AciditypH up to 3Set[jas1752]Store
Fully documentedFruit2.2 monthsMore fruitMore from Japan

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceJA Wakayama's recipe for one tub, published by MAFF. The Wakayama recipe uses only ume and salt; red shiso is added in other regions and is optional.
1 kgRipe yellow ume[maff-wakayama]
200 gCoarse salt · 20 % of the fruit weight[maff-wakayama][maff-imadoki]
As neededShōchū (35 % alcohol or more) or vinegar · To wipe the bags or container clean[maff-wakayama]
1 kgWeight · The same weight as the fruit[maff-wakayama]
About 10 % of the fruit weight, optionalRed shiso leaves, salted and squeezed[maff-shikinbai]
Starternone (a salt cure; microbes play little part)

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.2 months

Start
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What changes: Starting material: ripe yellow ume, washed and wiped dry

Step 1 of 6
Wash and dry ripe ume
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Remove the stem ends with a toothpick and dry the fruit well; wet or dirty fruit grows mould. Output: clean, dry fruit.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
yellow, ripe

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

What makes this one different

Umeboshi is a salt cure more than a fermentation; the salt and the fruit's own acid keep it. It is dried in the sun after salting; umezuke is not dried, and karikari ume are unripe and crunchy.

Related ferments

Variants

  • ShiroboshiUme and salt only, with no shiso, as in the Wakayama recipe.
  • Seasoned umeboshi (chōmi umeboshi)Umeboshi soaked again in sugar, vinegar, ume vinegar or spices; a separate JAS class.
  • ShikinbaiMito's crushed, stoned ume with 10–15 % salt and red shiso (see shikinbai).

Safety

Keep the salt at 20 %; MAFF warns that cutting it can make the batch fail, and the salt is what lets umeboshi keep. Japan's JAS standard requires umezuke and umeboshi to be pH 3.0 or lower. Wash and dry the fruit and the container well, since wet or dirty fruit grows mould. Film-forming yeasts can eat the acids, raise the pH and soften the fruit (Onda et al.). Green ume contain cyanogenic compounds; MAFF says processing them into umeboshi breaks these down.

History and sources

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

In the Edo period the Tanabe domain of Kishu had much poor land. Its chief retainer, Andō Naotsugu, encouraged farmers to grow the wild 'yabu-ume' there, and Tanabe ume came to be praised in Edo. Demand rose with wartime rations and the cholera and dysentery outbreaks of the 1880s. The large Nankō ume was registered in 1965, and Wakayama now grows about 60 % of Japan's ume.

  1. [maff-wakayama] MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan), うちの郷土料理, 梅干し 和歌山県 (umeboshi, Wakayama; recipe by JA Wakayama)gov
  2. [maff-imadoki] MAFF, 昔ながらの保存食!梅干し (umeboshi as a traditional preserved food)gov
  3. [maff-shikinbai] MAFF, うちの郷土料理, 紫錦梅 茨城県 (shikinbai, Ibaraki)gov
  4. [maff-shokuiku] MAFF food education meeting material, 梅干しをつくったよ! (making umeboshi, with the July sun-drying schedule)gov
  5. [maff-umework] MAFF, 梅を正しく処理して美味え(梅)仕事 (handling ume safely; cyanogenic compounds in green ume)gov
  6. [jas1752] MAFF, Japanese Agricultural Standard JAS 1752:2025, Pickled agricultural products (農産物漬物), section 4.10 umezuke and umeboshispec
  7. [onda1997] Onda T., Otoguro C., Iino S. and Goto S. 1997, Identification and characterization of film-forming yeasts isolated from decomposing salted ume-processed products, Nippon Shokuhin Kagaku Kogaku Kaishi 44(6), 407–417paper