Umeboshi: Salted Ume Plum Soda Drink for Summer

Umeboshi (梅干し) is one of the pickles representing Japan. It is a plum pickled in salt.

The plum fruit prepared to make Umeboshi is called Ume (梅), which doesn’t become sweet even when it has fully ripened and retains acidity.

So Umeboshi features its salty-sour taste, and Japanese people like to eat it with a warm bowl of white rice.

Although the plum contains lots of salt, it is also packed with organic acids such as citric acid and malic acid and can be a perfect food for summer. 

Specifically, if you take a proper amount, you can replenish salt lost by sweating and recover from summer fatigue through the benefits of those nutrients.

Hachimitsu Umeboshi Soda Drink Recipe

To make it much easier to consume Umeboshi, and given the summer heat, I recommend making a soda drink with the salted plum, and the recipe is like this.

Ingredients

All you need to prepare for the beverage are unsweetened carbonated water, Umeboshi, and honey or Hachimitsu.

Preparation

Commercial Umeboshi generally contains 8 to 20 percent salt, and the amount of it and honey used in this recipe depends on the salt content and your taste.

That said, a piece of Umeboshi would be sufficient for 200ml unsweetened carbonated water. Now, let’s get the preparation started.

1		First, deseed Umeboshi and chop the flesh finely.
2		Drop the prepared paste in a glass, add your desired amount of honey, and mix well.
3		Lastly, pour unsweetened sparkling water and stir lightly with a spoon.
4		Now it’s ready to drink. Enjoy!