Huamei

Huamei (prune salée chinoise)

What it is

Huamei are unripe mume plums salted, dried and then sweetened, most often with liquorice, so the finished lozenge is salty, sour and sweet at once rather than purely sour like Japanese umeboshi. Cantonese kitchens turn the sweet back into an ingredient: a few crushed over a fish before steaming season it and cut its richness.

In the kitchen

Two or three crushed with their stones and scattered over a fish will season it completely - add no salt until you have tasted. In a drink, hold it at a simmer: a hard boil turns the liquorice harsh.

Goes with

Sea bass Ginger Liquorice Osmanthus Chinese rock sugar Douchi Apricot Shaoxing wine

Same species

Bergeron apricot Almond Almond flour Almond oil Amardine Amarena cherry in syrup

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us