Authentic Japanese Umeboshi

Unripe green plums are pickled and brine infused with red shiso leaves. After being sun-dried they are aged for one year. The simple ingredients are plums, shiso leaf, and sea salt. Japan’s folk remedy for colds and flu is soup of rice and umeboshi.

Traditional Production

The plums are picked unripe in June when most acidic, washed and soaked overnight to remove bitterness. They are put in kegs with red shiso leaf and sea salt. The salt and heavy stones on the lid (pressure) draw juice from the plums which makes pickling brine in which they are kept for a month. Lactic acid bacteria flourishes. Plums are removed from the brine and sun dried for four to seven days, depending on weather.

Pure Ingredients – No MSG or Preservatives

Red shiso imparts perilla-aldehyde and many phytonutrients as well as a brilliant red color. Sun-dried plums are returned to the brine where they soak four or five more days, removed from the brine and placed in kegs to age for at least a year before packaging. Umeboshi contain an array of beneficial organic acids that is bracing and purifying.

Shiso Perilla frutescens is a member of the mint family, a small bush of dark red or green heart shaped leaves. Red leaves are called 'beefsteak' leaves.