a brush with plummy death

I jammed the ripe ume and they were amazing. there must be a lot of natural pectin in them as the jam jelled quite quickly and set very firmly.

I was talking to some of my students and neighbours yesterday about why we don't see ripe plums in the fruit section and without exception the reaction was:

"Ehhhhhh????? You ate ume??????!!!!!"

Whether it's an old wives (and husband's) tale or not I don't know, but apparently it's not a good idea to eat ume. I heard again and again that you will give yourself the runs, become seriously ill, end up in hospital and everyone knew of (importantly they knew of rather than knew) someone who had died from eating ume.

Hmmm, not sure why adding copious amounts of salt and red perilla turns these deadly fruits into the ubiquitous pickled plums but hey, what do I know, I'm so silly I ate a mouthful of ripe plum!