June 28, 2017

Making Low-Salt Umeboshi/低塩梅干しを作る

As I mentioned briefly, I started to make low-salt umeboshi on June 18, following my father's recipe,  described here.
ちょっと述べたように、6/18に低塩梅干しを作り始めました。ここで述べた父のレシピに従いました。

1,100 g + 560 g = 1,660 g of ume, plus 5% salt and water enough to cover the ume.
梅1,100 g + 560 g = 1,660 g、塩5%と、梅がかぶるだけの水。
On June 23, I decided to dry them in the sun.
6/23、日干しすることにしました。
Bubbling, a clear sign of fermentation.
泡立っています。明らかに発酵しています。


It was a sunny day.
晴れの日でした。
I later replaced the sieve with a flat one.
後で、ザルを平らなものに変えました。
June 24: Sunny
25: Rainy
26-28 Cloudy
6/24:晴れ
25:雨
26-28:曇り
I wanted to dry them in the sun for three consecutive days, but I was unable to.
3日間連続で日干ししたかったのですが、できませんでした。

Today (June 28), I transferred the ume to a glass jar, added some vinegar and shochu (about 2 tbsp each) and 5% sugar (instead of 20%).
今日(6/28)、梅をガラス瓶に移し、お酢と焼酎を少し(それぞれ大さじ2杯程度)と砂糖を5%(20%ではなく)を入れました。
I will taste them tomorrow morning.
明日の朝、味見してみます。

To be continued.
続く。

On the early morning of June 29, my father and I tasted the umeboshi.
6/29の早朝、父と梅干しを食べてみました。
I also tasted the low-salt umeboshi my father made last year (right).
父が去年作った低塩梅干し(右)も食べてみました。
My father just can't remember how much sugar he added. (The recipe calls for 20% sugar.) Both umeboshi were equally sour and were not sweet, so I decided not to add additional sugar.
父は砂糖をどれくらい入れたか思い出せないそうです(レシピでは砂糖が20%必要)。どちらの梅干しも同様に酸っぱく、甘くないので、砂糖はもう足さないことにしました。

Another batch is ready for drying!
もう一瓶、干します。

2 comments:

Yangsze said...

We just came back from a 2 week trip to Japan (JR pass from Tokyo down to Fukuoka, stopping at Kyoto, Hiroshima etc.). It was wonderful! Now I'm missing Japan and was so happy to see the multiple posts on your blog about ume :-) When I was there this past week there was lots of ripe looking ume for sale in the supermarkets. It must be the season. Unfortunately we were traveling so unable to try making any of these delicious looking ume recipes!

Hiroyuki said...

Yangsze: I'm glad to here you had a wonderful trip to Japan!

Yes, it is ume season. Ao (lit. blue, unripe) ume first, suitable for ume syrup and jam, followed by ripe ume suitable for umeboshi. We are also in the rainy season, tsuyu, spelled 梅雨 (lit. ume rain) in kanji.