Umeboshi: Salted Ume Plum Soda Drink for Summer

Known as one of the pickles that represent Japan, Umeboshi is a plum that has been 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 has strong acidity.

So the salted Ume plum, Umeboshi is especially characterized by its quite salty, sour acidic taste and is often eaten with plain white rice in Japan.

Although Umeboshi contains lots of salt, it is packed with plenty of organic acids such as citric acid and malic acid, for which reason the pickled plum 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 by the benefits of organic acids.

Hachimitsu Umeboshi Soda Drink Recipe using Honey

To make it much easier to eat Umeboshi, and given the summer heat, here I recommend making a soda drink using the salted Ume plum. 

Ingredients

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

Preparation

Since the salt content in the commercial Umeboshi plum usually ranges from 8 to 20 percent, the amount of Umeboshi and honey used in this recipe are determined according to the salt content and your taste.

But I think a piece of Umeboshi is sufficient for 200ml unsweetened carbonated water, which is sweetened with honey. Now, let’s get the preparation started.

1		First, remove the seed from the Umeboshi and chop the plum flesh finely
2		Then, drop the plum paste in a glass, add your desired amount of honey to it, and mix well
3		Lastly, pour unsweetened carbonated water into the glass and stir lightly with a spoon or the like
4		Enjoy!