Prune ume

Salt draws the water out and the acid concentrates; that is the whole umeboshi process.

Perilla dyes the pickle red and its aldehyde runs alongside the fruit acid.

One pickled plum seasons a whole bowl; the starch is the only thing that can absorb it.

Steeped whole with rock sugar and spirit, the acid turns into a syrup over a year.

Catechin bitterness and salted acid; the pairing is a hangover cure in three countries.

Green water plus salt-sour paste; the crunch is the only thing the plum cannot supply.

The acid tenderises and the salt seasons; a plum paste does both in one marinade.

Inosinate and fruit acid; pounded together they become a seasoning, not a pickle.

Steeped ume plus rice esters; the almond note from the stone is what carries over.

Simmered with oily fish, the acid dissolves the small bones and cuts the oil at once.

The stone is loaded with benzaldehyde; the nut just says out loud what is already there.

Juniper and green stone-fruit acid; umeshu logic with the botanicals turned up.

Cocoa butter against salt-sour paste; the fat makes the acid taste like apricot.

Salted sour plum with sweet fat: the acid and the salt arrive together.