North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Kieran <holycow@frontiernet.net>]

 Mike,
    You should just look it up.  I did back quite a few years ago, and 
from what I remember, and what  I have seen of plums growing, and from 
eating umeboshi, they would be close to ripe, meaning the first few 
might get a faint blush of color.  They are dried in the sun for just a 
day or two till they start to wrinkle and yellow a bit, so that's 
reducing the moisture level a bit.  Then they are packed in dry salt 
with beefsteak plant for color.  That's red perilla, the Koreans use a 
green version, which is a weed here in TN, but the red Jap version 
tastes even worse.  It doesn't seem to be enough to affect the flavor of 
the dried ume though.  I'm sure you could leave it out, but knowing 
about traditional medicine, it probably has some kind of symbiotic 
effect.  Nurseries sell the red perilla sometimes as red basil.  Don't 
worry about it for now.  The salt draws out juice from the ume to make 
just enough liquid to cover.
    Years ago, when I had ordinary green plums that were falling or 
obviously doomed due to brown rot coming, I pickled them in very salty 
brine.  My husband is probably a cystic fibrosis carrier, and they need 
lots of salt in hot weather, so he loves preserved umeboshi.  I didn't 
know what I was doing, but they were pretty good, and the acid in the 
plums provided all they needed.  While salt raises BP, acid lowers it.  
Anyway, as I have figured all along, THEY, that is the medical 
profession, have finally realized that salt restricted diets kill 
people.  Duh.  Why do they think cattle have to have salt?  Because they 
eat plants (high potassium).  Yet it's more likely to be vegetarian 
humans who think they shouldn't eat salt.
    With fermented foods you really need to keep air out of the 
container because molds will grow on the top surface.  Molds have to 
have air.  There's too much salt in umeboshi to be considered fermented, 
but you should still do your best to keep air out.  I do things 
sometimes like lay a grape or oak leaf on top of jars of stuff I'm 
fermenting.  Plastic wrap of course is the ideal cover, but I get a 
little weird about plastic and foods.  I still use it for making miso.  
If you could get a lot of perilla leaves, they could lay on top.  You 
could try putting your plums and salt in small canning jars and buy the 
nice white plastic lids to go on top, or if you are smart you are 
keeping canning jar sized plastic lids from other products.  I don't 
think there should be any bubbling or pressure, so you could fill them 
right to the top once you have some brine going.  Stand the jars in 
casserole dishes to stop salty water from leaking till you know for 
sure.  Best go all out and preserve the product.  Then find some 
Japanese locals to swap with, or if you like them, they should keep for 
years.  Hmmm... I'll bet in Japan they pickle them in wooden barrels 
with rocks on top of wooden floating lids, like they do miso, or like 
westerners do kraut.  I buy up the crocks from crockpots to make miso 
in, but it's difficult to find saucers just the right size to cover.  If 
I'm lucky if I can stand there in Goodwill and match the crocks and 
saucers on the spot.  I've measured crocks at home and tried my best to 
get exactly the right sizes, and preferably not the kind of china with a 
lot of unfired clay showing, that might sop up some moisture.  If you 
have gallons and gallons of ume, get some food grade buckets from the 
deli and maybe cut down some lids to cover.  You can weight lids down  
with washed boiled rocks or canning jars full of water.  I'm more likely 
to sterilize things with Lugol's or clorox than boiling in that sort of 
situation.  Good luck!  Ume bloom so early here that it's just a 
joke.           Donna