Pickled Japanese Apricot

Sun-dried, salted, then pickled with shiso (red perilla leaves), umeboshi is a common everyday breakfast pickle in Japan, eaten with rice and miso soup. Loved in Japan both for its piquant taste and its medicinal properties, umeboshi is said to be extremely beneficial to the digestive system. Delicious rice balls can be made by enclosing umeboshi in rice and wrapping it in nori seaweed. Umeboshi can also be used in a range of other dishes, in alcoholic drinks, and also as a wonderful palate-cleanser.