Today I helped out preparing japanese harb called “Shiso”. Red Shiso is important for making the color of Umeboshi. Shiso contains component named “shisonin” and it has chemical reaction so it turns to red with acid and blue with alkaline.
First we put salt on shiso. The amount of salt is supposed to be 10% of shiso. We mix them together well by hand.
After mixing them, they gradually intergrete with each other and the amount of them decreases.
To mix them better and squize, we used laundry machine! It was surprizing for me. The luandry machine is used just for it once a year, only in this season. It’s interesting. Squizing is also important to get rid of extra moisture.
When it finishs, we leave it with plum vinegar for several days. Plum vinegar is made in advance. In about 30 minutes, chemical reaction already got started and became red color.
After this Ume is going to be sank in it. This is seasonal work in this region. I was happy to experience it in real.
