Ume Alert!

Ume (pronounced "OO-may" are Japanese plums. They are actually more related to the apricot than a plum, having a slightly fuzzy exterior and being smaller than Western plums. They are used here to make some types of wine or liquor, they can be pickled and used as a slightly sour garnish, and they are sometimes dried and eaten as sweets for dessert. I love all of the above.

Right now, it the grocery stores, they have taken over the fruit section, kicking out the melons that had been in season for so long. When you buy juice or candy or popsicles, etc, they are often ume or melon flavored rather then the basic cherry, grape, strawberry, and orange options I'm used to back in the States. (Other popular flavors here are white peach, lemon, cherry blosson, and green tea.) Melons here have a really strong flavor, unlike those back in the US, and green ones like honeydew are never pulpy but rather smooth and quite delicious. They cost a pretty penny too. One melon about the size of an acorn squash, can cost anywhere from 580 yen up to 1300 yen. (That's about $11.00...did I mention that's for ONE?!?) The other anomaly here is that while most things are slightly smaller in Japan, the apples are the size of large grapefruit at home. I've never seen apples that large. But I digress...

I just got back from the grocery store and you can buy giant bins of ume at a time. They have their own section these days. I picked up 25 of them in a bag for about the equivalent of $4.25 and I'm excited to try them. I've never actually had the fruit itself.

One of the things I love about Japan is that they eat in season. They don't try and eat fruit or vegetables all year that aren't being harvested right then. They also eat cooler foods in the summer and somewhat thicker ones in the winter. We do that a bit in the U.S. too, but we also have come to make any food available year-round, losing touch a little bit with eating in harmony with nature.

Soon after I first arrived here last January, we went ume blossom viewing up at the Osaka Castle (different from the Himeji Castle in the posting below). The blossoms were white or pale or hot pink: and nearly as stunning as the famous cherry blossoms. There were hundreds of Japanese people there from newborn to 80 years old, even on a weekday. If you want to see more photos of that trip in February, including some shots of that castle, you can click HERE. Make sure you click on a couple to see the blossoms close up, and yes, that's me in the last photo.

I'm off to try my first fresh ume...