With the arrival of June, the plum harvesting season has come again in Japan this year. My daughter found plums in the garden and excitedly informed me about it. She wasn’t sure when to harvest them, so I told her to pick the green plums (called ao-ume, though they are actually green) if she wanted to make plum wine or syrup. If she wants to make umeboshi (pickled plums), she should wait until they ripen and change color a bit more.

My daughter promptly bought a container for making plum wine, not the usual white liquor or shochu used for plum wine, but this time she chose brandy, along with rock sugar. After preparing them, she made plum wine.

It seems that Japan is experiencing a poor plum harvest this year.

Since the year my eldest daughter was born, I have been making pickled plums, never running out of homemade umeboshi at home. Even here in New Zealand, I make umeboshi using locally grown plums.

In New Zealand, perhaps due to climate change, we usually get plums around Christmas, but recently they’ve been available a month earlier, in November.

A local person in Auckland, who roasts coffee, received a bonsai plum tree from the Japanese wife of an acquaintance. From that, he expanded and now operate several plum orchards. Since last year, they have started selling canned plum juice made solely with honey, without using sugar. I had the chance to taste it, and it felt very sentimental to me.

I moved to New Zealand 11 years ago and soon learned about their plums. Every year, I would ask them, “Aren’t you going to commercialize it?” Apparently, they had been secretly experimenting with making umeboshi, but since locals don’t eat it, a Japanese restaurant was given some for free.

I heard that a law change in Japan this June has made it difficult to sell homemade umeboshi and pickles. It’s a shame that Japan’s traditional food culture is changing with the times.

However, even if it becomes difficult to obtain commercial products, we can still make them at home for personal use.

In a positive light, more people might start wanting to make their own umeboshi. Pickles, too, can be enjoyed when made at home without additives.

In the near future, I hope to find an expert in making umeboshi and pickles and hold cooking classes locally.