She grew up eating chamoy candy and sauce on fruit ... from working in a Japanese restaurant that makes its own umeboshi, she blends salt-preserved underripe ume plum with hibiscus flowers ...

Ayako Iino grew up in Nagoya, Japan, the largest city in the Chūbu region. Like many kids, she watched her mom make umeboshi, a traditional salt-cured plum pickle (and alkalizing dietary staple that’s ...

To make the paste, unripened ume are first fermented in salt. After fermenting for two weeks, red perilla leaves, which belong to the mint family, are added to give the paste its bright red colour.