Neriri Ume-Neri: Nobel’s Popular Plum Candy Pellets

“Ume (梅)” is a tree with white or pink blossoms which represents Japan’s winter season.

The tree bears fruit like apricots, which are referred to as Ume plums in English.

The fruit features a strong sour-acidic taste and doesn’t become sweet even if it’s fully ripened.

The plums are often used in Japanese cuisine, and “Umeboshi (梅干し)” is a quintessential food made with them. 

Umeboshi are made by pickling Ume plums in salt and dried in the sun. The resultant plums are generally so salty and sour that we often eat them with plain white rice.

Japan has a wide range of candies made with Umeboshi plums, from gummies, like this, to hard candies, like these, and some are unique in texture and shape.

And that also applies to what I bought this time.

Nobel Neriri Ume-Neri Umeboshi Candy

What I introduce here is this “Neriri Ume-Neri (ねりり 梅ねり)” produced and sold by the Japanese confectionery company “Nobel (ノーベル)”. 

The Ume Neri candy is made by mashing Umeboshi plums into a paste, and the Umeboshi paste is solidified into pellets.

With a quite hard texture, these Ume treats have some stickiness like gummy candy, and the more you chew on it, the more the umami and flavor come out.

Of course, alternatively, you can also suck on it.

Although these plum pellets aren’t sweet at all, they only have moderate acidity and are easy to eat with a rich umami taste characteristic of Umeboshi. 

Ingredients

Lastly, let’s see the ingredient list on the back of the package.

According to that, the Nobel Neriri Ume-Neri candy mainly consists of dextrin, salt, Ume plum flesh, branching oligosaccharide, Ume vinegar, salt, Shiso (perilla) powder, processed starch, sorbitol, and acidifiers.