In the initial phase of the pickling process, the critical part is drawing enough juice out of the ume fruit to cover them. This creates the first barrier of resistance to outside moulds and other nasties that might cause spoilage. The factors that achieve that are 1) salt, which helps to leach the juice out; and 2) sufficient weight, to encourage that juice to squeeze out.
So, not enough weight and the pickling process may not get going properly. Too much weight and the ume will split — and that can jeopardise the whole batch.
After 6 days — ie the weekend after we lay down the ume — we take off the cling film and have our first peek. Except we know already how each crock is doing, by the position of the weights. Compare this photo (above) with the photo in the previous post (three up from the bottom, just before we put the cling film on. The big top weight has sunk from being all the way above the rim of the crock to the top being flush with the rim.
But it's always a relief to see with our own eyes what's been going on down there out of sight for the past week (almost)...
The juice — at this stage it's called shiro umesu ("white ume vinegar") — is now almost covering the entire drop lid. Just as it should be.
Removing the drop lid, we can see how the ume are doing. They're a bit flattened at the top, but not so much that they've split. But anyway, now the shiro-umesu has risen nicely, we don't need so much weight on them.
It's time to take off the big 3 kg weight, and replace it with a smaller one (a kilo).
That means we've gone from double the weight of the ume to having the same (aproximate) weight on them.
Then on with the lid, more cling film to keep out the evil doers, plus the outer layer of paper. And finally the crock goes back in its corner to continue the slow pickling process.
The next stage will be to add the aka-jiso (red shiso herb). That will happen towards the end of the month, just as soon as the bunches of shiso start arriving in our local farmers market.
More waiting... But this time with greater confidence. It's not finished yet, but we can relax a bit. The ume appear to be pickling well.
[Day 6: June 15th]
[the next step, taking a quick sniff, continues here…
