Read more: What Happens If You Accidentally Eat Mold? When ume, a small fuzzy spherical fruit, meets heat and salt, you get the salt-kissed flavor bomb Japanese delicacy that is umeboshi.

Ume is a fruit that resembles, and is related to, apricots but which must be preserved to consume. Wakayama produces most of Japan’s ume and by June the fruit will be ready to harvest and made ...