There are many ways to boost your immune health, such as eating nutritious foods and taking supplements. In fact, you can boost your immune health by trying umeboshi, a Japanese superfood.

What is umeboshi?

“Ume” is the Japanese word for plum and “boshi” means dry. Umeboshi, or Japanese pickled plums, is a popular traditional preserved food made by pickling green and firm plums (ao ume) with salt and then drying them in the sun.

Umeboshi is often dyed red with purple shiso or perilla leaves. This superfood has been consumed historically for medicinal purposes and is also used as a portable food during emergencies.

Umeboshi tastes salty and sour because it contains citric acid.

Health benefits of umeboshi

Umeboshi offers many health benefits. The sourness of umeboshi is due to its citric acid and malic acid content.

Citric acid, which can also be found in lemons and other citric fruits, boosts gastrointestinal function, increases appetite and improves protein digestion.

Malic acid can help relieve fatigue. Taking both acids together can help relieve inflammation and improve gastrointestinal function.

In Japan, umeboshi is a known natural immune system booster.

Your body needs (slight) alkalinity to maintain good health

Umeboshi is made by pickling Japanese plums in barrels outdoors with shiso leaves and sea salt. The plums are pressed occasionally with a weight.

The pickling process takes around six months, which is when the plums develop enzymes, natural bacteria and organic acids. The final product is a very beneficial alkaline superfood.

Alkalinity is linked to your overall well-being. Ideally, your body should be slightly alkaline or around 7.35. Even being slightly too acidic can put you in a coma while being too alkaline can trigger seizures and death on either end of the pH spectrum.

Additionally, having your body in an acidic state can promote the overgrowth of bad bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. This acidic state can also cause different chronic degenerative illnesses.

Your body can become too acidic when your diet consists of alcohol or foods that contain processed simple sugars, refined flour, factory-farmed animal foods and exposure to unwanted toxins in the environment such as fluoride or mercury.

The symptoms of being overly acidic include anemia, fatigue, headaches, lethargy and nausea.

Umeboshi offers antiseptic, germicidal and detoxification health benefits

Umeboshi is rich in organic acids, specifically phosphoric and citric acid. These acids help ensure the breakdown of harmful acids and blood compounds like lactic acid and pyruvic acid.

Umeboshi has been studied for many years and their health benefits have been verified in several ways. In the 1950s, Japanese scientists extracted a powerful antibiotic from umeboshi.

In 1968, experts extracted a compound that had powerful germicidal effects against tuberculosis bacteria.

Umeboshi also has antiseptic properties and healing effects against food poisoning and water contamination. Its antioxidant effects also help with general detoxification needs, liver health issues and skin conditions.

Detoxify naturally with umeboshi

Umeboshi tastes sour and salty. You can eat them whole or as a paste.

Soak umeboshi in hot water to make tea, then eat the plum afterward. You can also use umeboshi when cooking savory dishes.

You can consume two to three umeboshi plums per week to maintain your overall health. Umeboshi can also help if you have health conditions related to an acidic condition.

Homemade umeboshi recipe

You can buy umeboshi pickled plums at natural health food stores, local Japanese grocery stores and online.

You can also make umeboshi at home using only a handful of ingredients. Purchase ume plums at a local Japanese grocery store or at Asian grocery stores.

If you want to make umeboshi using fresh ume plums, buy them around June when they are in season.

You will need:

• A preserving jar
• A skewer
• Home canning weights
• A resealable plastic bag
• Baking beads
• A bamboo tray

Pickled ume

• 350 g Ripe ume plums
• 70 g Sea salt
• 1/2 Tablespoon Japanese gin

Momi shiso (massaged red shiso leaves) for color

• 100 g Red shiso leaves
• 1 Tablespoon umezu from pickled plum (The liquid produced by pickling ume plums with 20 percent of salt.)
• 2 Teaspoons sea salt

Preparation for the ume plums:

1. Sterilize the preserving jar by boiling it in a large pot. Take the jar out and set it aside to let it dry.
2. Wash the ume plums and pat them dry with a clean towel. If you get green firm plums in a batch, store them at room temperature covered with newspaper until they turn yellowish.
3. Place the dried ume plums in a resealable plastic bag and pour over the gin to disinfect.
4. Place some of the ume at the bottom of the sterilized preserving glass jar and add some of the salt. Repeat this to make layers of umeboshi and salt until you use up all the umeboshi.
5. Place a weight on top of the final layer of ume plums.
6. Store the ume plums away from sunlight for a week. Check them every day to see if umezu (plum vinegar) is being produced and rising.
7. After one week, prepare the red shiso leaves and add them to the plums.
8. After adding the leaves, set the umeboshi aside for two weeks.
9. Dry the umeboshi on three consecutive sunny days.
10. On day one, remove the umeboshi from the jar and place them on a bamboo tray to dry. Leave a gap so the plums don’t touch. Squeeze the liquid from the shiso leaves and spread the leaves out on the tray to dry. Bring in the tray at night and store the leaves and the plums in the jar with the liquid.
11. On day two, repeat the same steps as day one but don’t put the plums and leaves back into the jar. Leave them on the tray.
12. On day three, repeat the same steps as day two. After three days of sun drying, place the umeboshi in a clean preserving jar and store them in a cool and dark place. You can eat the umeboshi straight away, but letting the ume plums mature for three months or longer will produce umeboshi with a mellower taste.

Preparation for the momi shisho (massaged red shiso leaves):

1. Wash the shiso leaves, then drain the water.
2. Sprinkle half of the salt on top of the shiso leaves.
3. Toss the salt and shiso leaves together and massage the leaves with your hands.
4. Discard the dark purple liquid from the leaves.
5. Sprinkle the remaining half of the salt over the shiso leaves, then massage again. This removes the astringent taste from the red shiso leaves.
6. Squeeze out the dark purple liquid from the leaves and put the shiso leaves into a small mixing bowl.
7. Add one tablespoon of umezu (plum vinegar) from the jar of plums.
8. Add the leaves to the jar of umeboshi and set aside for two more weeks.

Boost your immunity and digestive health with umeboshi, a sweet and salty Japanese superfood.

Sources:

NaturalHealth365.com

ChopstickChronicles.com