Ume are related to the apricot and plum but are unique
Where other fruits become more mellow as they ripen, ume’s acidity, especially their citric acid content, rises. This acidity is responsible for many of ume’s health benefits, and helps preserve the volatile compounds that give ume their complex flavor.
Ume are chemically and gastronomically unique, similar to apricots in fragrance, oranges in color, and berries in acidity. Once you taste them, you’ll agree that there’s nothing quite like ume.
Nanko-ume is the premier variety of ume, featuring a rich, apricot-like aroma and tart fruity flavor. Most of Japan’s Nanko-ume come from Kishu in southern Wakayama, and Nakata Foods uses only tree-ripened ones for its salted umeboshi, umeshu ume liqueur, and ume jams and sauces, imparting them with fragrance and flavor not found in other brands.
The most prized Nanko-ume are those that fully ripen on the tree and naturally fall. They are collected on large nets that prevent bruising and contamination, and quickly processed. It’s how Nakata Foods ensures the highest quality base ingredients.
The alternate pronunciation of ‘ume’ is ‘bai,’ and you will sometimes see references to ‘Nanko-bai’. Generally, ‘Nanko-bai’ refers to the tree while ‘Nanko-ume’ refers to the fruit, however they are used interchangeably depending on the speaker. Likewise, ‘ume-shu’ is sometimes but rarely called ‘bai-shu’.
AROMA, ACIDITY, FRUITINESS
Like other fruits high in acidity like blueberries, cranberries, and citrus, ume are excellent when used in jams, syrups, and sauces. Acidity can help neutralize odors in food: ume are often boiled with dark meat fish for this reason, and they make an excellent sauce for pork chops, for example.
Kishu Nanko-ume have an especially rich aroma when fully ripe. Because alcohol extracts and preserves aroma, umeshu liqueur is an amazing showcase of fruity fragrance. Many other umeshu producers use green fruit to reduce costs. Because Nakata Foods uses only fully ripened fruit and award-winning local natural spring water, we are confident in saying that our umeshu is among the best available. Ume sauces and umeshu are wonderful when paired with chocolate, with a taste experience reminiscent of the pairing of raspberries or orange and chocolate, but with new and unique flavors depending on the pairing profile.
UME: JAPAN’S HISTORICAL HEALTH FOOD
Samurai knew that ume contributed to good health, so they carried them to the field of battle.
Today, we still eat ume to support our health!
Samurai carried umeboshi and rations mixed with umeboshi. The citric acid helped break down lactic acid, aiding recovery between battles. They also ate them to stave off hunger and thirst.
Umeboshi are added to bentos to prevent spoilage; the citric acid and polyphenols are thought to reduce microbial activity.
Umeboshi were found to be effective during cholera outbreaks of the past, leading to increased research on their disease prevention characteristics.
The History of Ume
Ume first appear in the archaeological record in Japan in the beginning of the Yayoi period around 300 BCE. Ume pits have been found at Kofun archaeological sites in Western Japan along with remains of other fruit.
During the Asuka period in the late 500s, envoy to China Ono no Imoko is recorded as bringing back ‘wu-mei,’ smoked and dried ume used as medicine.
The Manyoshu, Japan’s oldest collection of poems, was created during the Nara period in the 700s. Its 108th poem includes a reference to ume. The same poem was the inspiration for the current era name of Reiwa.
Umeboshi, sun-dried salted ume, are mentioned as a medicine in the ‘Ishinhou,’ Japan’s oldest surviving medical book from the late 900s, in the Heian period.
In the time of samurai in the Muromachi period (1333-1573), warriors carried umeboshi to the battlefield to recover from fatigue and to prevent hunger and thirst.
Later in the 1600s, in the Edo period, the Tokugawa lord of Tanabe, Naotsugu Ando, allowed farmers to use mountain land to produce ume. This land was rocky with poor water retention, inhospitable for other crops but well suited to ume. His order encouraged the ume industry to gradually grow in the local area and resulted in what is now recognized as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System, the Minabe-Tanabe Ume System.
The book ‘Yamato Honzo’, published in the early 1700s, catalogued Japan’s medicinal plants. It includes a description of umeboshi made with red shiso (perilla leaf), the first mention of this recipe that is still popular today.
In the Edo period umeboshi were shipped out of Tanabe Harbor regularly, to Edo (now Tokyo) and other markets. A record book in Tanabe listed 19 varieties of ume.
The Origins of Nanko Ume
In 1902, Sadagusu Takada from Minabe, Wakayama, converted his mulberry orchard to an ume orchard using 60 saplings of the Uchinaka variety that were raised from the seed. Because it was raised from seed one of them developed a mutation into a larger fruit with thick flesh and soft skin, and a delicious red blush. This was the first Nanko-ume.
Mr. Takada cared for the tree closely, and named its fruit the Takada Ume.
The breeder’s right extended for 30 years, during which time Mr. Takada maintained a monopoly on the variety and protected it closely. In 1931 Koyama Teiichi received 60 grafts from Mr. Takada and toiled to raise and reproduce them successfully.
In 1950, Mr. Koyama was selected to join a committee to identify a single superior variety of ume, for the purpose of stabilizing the markets and finding as many local varieties as possible. Thirty-seven varieties were entered into the 5-year contest.
The first year was a good harvest, so no difference was able to be found in the cultivation potential of the varieties. In the 2nd and 3rd years the field was reduced to 14 and then ten varieties. In the 4th year seven varieties remained: Yakushi, Jizou, Gojiro, Shiratama, Kairyou-Uchida, Yousei, and Takada. Of these, in the final year the Takada ume was selected for its characteristics and its suitability to the local climate.
Kanji characters were taken from the names of Minabe High School, an agricultural school which cooperated in the competition, and from Mr. Takada’s name; those characters’ alternate pronunciations were combined into the variety’s new name:
Minami (south) -> Nan
Taka (high) -> Kou
Therefore, Nankou-ume. However it’s usually written without the dipthong as Nanko-ume.