Plum work

Ono Karori

Speaking of regular events in June
Making pickled plums
That said, this year marks the fifth time.
Every year I try different methods.
This time, from people with whom we have a connection.
The plums are from someone in Hiroshima who always shares them with us.
The salt was provided by a customer from Itoshima who visited Utsushiki the other day.
And for the first time, I decided to put kelp into the plum. The Rishiri kelp was a gift from someone who came from Hokkaido.
I feel happy just seeing so many people's faces.
For me, umeboshi are a part of everyday life.
I wonder when it started.
Ever since I was little, when I'm hungry, even if I don't have a cold, I've had bancha tea and plum.
We cracked the seeds open and ate the fruit inside, and it was more like a snack than something we could eat with rice.
I really did feel like there were so many umeboshi in the jar that no matter how much I ate they would never run out.
I filled a jar with them at my mother's parents' house and carefully carried them home (of course I couldn't resist and ate one in the car),
When it runs out I'll bring another bottle.
I wonder if there are other elementary school students like this...lol
However, the umeboshi made by my grandmother were crunchy with salt.
Even though I love umeboshi, I remember finding it difficult and painful to eat just one.
However, the first time I tried pickling it, I used too much salt in the red shiso, and it was a failure!
Then I thought about it and it had the same crunchy texture, which made me laugh as it brought back memories.
Now that I'm an adult, I use it at the dinner table,
When you get a hangover from drinking, you want to eat pickled plums,
When I experienced morning sickness during my first pregnancy, eating a pickled plum helped to calm me down naturally.
My husband used to not know what umeboshi were before we got married, but now he looks forward to making them.
My kids won't eat it though...
Come to think of it, there were pickled plums, I picked them... It's nice to have memories that are different from mine.
As I was pickling the umeboshi, I thought about my love for them and my family.
Ono Kaori