umeboshi

[oo-muh-boh-shee, oo-me-baw-shee]

noun

plural

umeboshis 

1. a salty and tart Japanese condiment made from unripened plums pickled in a brine.

Word History and Origins

Origin of umeboshi¹

First recorded in 1820–30; from Japanese ume “Japanese apricot” + -boshi, combining form of hoshi “a drying,” verbal noun from hosu ( Old Japanese posu ) “to dry”

Example Sentences

It was founded in 1966 by Japanese immigrants Michio and Aveline Kushi, pioneers of the natural-foods macrobiotic movement who began selling imported organic goods such as brown rice, miso, soy sauce and umeboshi out of their Boston home.

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For fillings, our vegetarian kids like a bite of pitted umeboshi plum or a slice of pickled cucumber or radish, or some combination.

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Taki even grows a small number of ume plums, used to make Japanese plum wine and “umeboshi” salted plums.

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But Taki also makes his own umeboshi from apricots and red shiso — which he says have nearly the same flavor as real umeboshi — and sells them at his booth through the summer.

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It derives from a pickled stone-fruit snack called see mui in Cantonese, which is itself related to Japanese umeboshi, a snack made of salted ume plums or apricots pickled into sour little balls of delight.

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