Smoked plum


Smoked plum is the smoked fruit of Asian plums, used in East Asian cuisine and medicine. It is called wūméi in Mandarin Chinese, omae in Korean, and ubai in Japanese.

Overview

Smoked plums, matte black to dark brown, with a rugged surface, have a unique flavor with a sour taste. The fruit is spherical or oblate, around long and in diameter. The surface is wrinkled, with the round stem-end underside. The fruit kernel is hard, olate, yellowish brown, long, wide, and thick, with a dotted surface. The seed is flat obloid and light yellow.

Production

Unripe plums are picked in early summer, smoked, and dried at.

Use

Cuisine

In China, smoked plums are used to make suānméitāng, a sour plum drink.
In Korea, smoked plums are used to make traditional teas and drinks such as omae-cha and jeho-tang.

Medicine

Latin name for smoked plums is Mume Fructus.
In Traditional Korean medicine, smoked plums are considered conductant for the liver channel, spleen channel, lung channel, and large intestine channel. It is used to treat ascariasis, vomiting, cough, and diarrhea. It is reported to relieve phlegm, inhibit intestinal motility, and fight bacteria in pharmacologic experiments.