Umeboshi for taste and health

Whole served umeboshi. image source: healthil.jp/21790

Umeboshi is fermented plum which taste sour and salty. Umeboshi is served as whole, dried whole, paste and vinegar. A whole umeboshi is usually eaten with rice, it appears a lot in Japanese dining table. In particular, plums of Kishu (Wakayama Prefecture) are famous throughout the country.

And because plums contain a lot of natural citric acid, it is very effective in terms of health such as recovery from fatigue and aging by eating every day. Also, it is said that when you drink too much sake you should drink lots of tea with umeboshi inside.

Umeboshi began to be made in Japan during the Heian era, it was originally eaten as a medicine for people of the upper class as there is a legend that the Emperor of that time cured the plague with plum and kelp tea. During the Kamakura period, it is handed down to the samurai and was eaten as a medicine to cure diseases, but still considered as high-class food, since commoners did not get have chance to get any. In the Sengoku period, Umeboshi was useful as an antidote or nutrient in the battlefield. It seems that the samurai who went into the battle carried several plums on the waist. It is from the Edo period that ordinary people is able to easily get plums at each household. Then Umeboshi has been known as a traditional Japanese food.

As plum starts to bloom in March, the umeboshi can be seen when the weather starts to get warmer in the beginning of spring.

http://iroha-japan.net/iroha/B02_food/08_umeboshi.html