Heart-shaped ume-boshi are made by drying and molding in frames. (In Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture)
WAKAYAMA, Dec. 7 – Young Japanese ume fruits growers and designers in Wakayama Prefecture collaborated to produce heart-shaped ume pickles using nanko-ume, the best Japanese apricot brand in Japan. The photogenic traditional fermented sour pickles (called ume-boshi in Japanese) will grab the hearts of young people, they said. They’re whole pieces of deseeded ume-boshi which are molded using heart-shaped frames. The repeated use of food driers made them drier and thicker in texture.
A team of 15 ume apricot farmers in their 20s and 30s in Minabe Town and Tanabe City in Wakayama Prefecture and designers of a Wakayama-based company specializing in developing and selling ume products, moro molo, developed the products together.
“It’s our signature product that looks great and tastes great,” a 30-year-old local ume grower, Masaru Katsumata, said with a confident voice. “I highly recommend it as a gift,” the owner of the Katsumata Farm in Minabe, who supplies and processes ume apricots, added. A set of five heart-shaped ume-boshi is available for 1,620 yen online from moro molo.