The fruits of the plum tree can be used to make prunes and plum wine, so plums are known as the "panacea".
In February and March, the leaves of the plum tree have not yet had time to grow, but several five-petal flowers have already emerged. The color of the flowers is mostly white, but also red and light red. The petals may be single or double. There are more than 300 horticultural varieties of plum blossoms. The fruit is spherical in shape with a groove on it. During the plum rain season, the fruits turn yellow when ripe and taste very sour, so the ancients called this season the "human plum season."
In China's ancient Chinese medicine book "The Synopsis of the Golden Chamber", there is a prescription called "Wumei Pill". This prescription is to steam unripe plums, dry them and make them into pills, which have antipyretic, antitussive and insect repellent effects. Japan's unique "ume gravy" is a folk prescription developed on the basis of this prescription, which is very effective in treating diarrhea and indigestion. Easier to make than plum gravy are prunes. After the mid-Edo period, the method of dyeing umeboshi with perilla leaves became popular among the people.
Plums contain special benign plant organic acids such as citric acid, pyruvic acid and succinic acid. Since organic acids are acidic, they can exert antibacterial effects in the gastrointestinal tract. The acid becomes alkaline before being absorbed by the intestines and transported to the blood, thus improving blood circulation.
Immature plum pips contain poisonous amygdalin, which is why there is a saying that "if you eat plums but not the pips, there will be gods in the plums." However, if you pickle plums with salt or soju for a month, the toxicity of amygdalin will gradually decompose and disappear. This is how umeboshi and plum wine are made.
There are many folk therapies using plums to treat diseases. For example, when you have a headache, you can put prunes on your temples; if you have tonsillitis, you can drink a little diluted prune juice. In the past, housewives would be respected by others if they could make good umeboshi. The "Hinomaru Bento" invented by the Japanese was a clever way to prevent food from spoiling.
Plum dyeing
The method of plum dyeing is called plum dyeing. It has historical records in Japan and was famous as a unique dyeing method in the Kaga region from the early Muromachi period to the Edo period. Famous. The bark and heart of the plum tree are carefully mashed and boiled in juice to make a dye solution, which is soaked several times and then reflected with lime to produce the color. Among them, the reddish-yellow plum-dyed products are the most popular.
Using this plum dyeing method to make things with black color is called black plum dyeing.
Compared with indigo dyeing, the silk processed by black plum dyeing not only has a more harmonious color combination, but also has a very comfortable feel and texture, so it is often used to pay tribute to the Japanese central government. This plain dyeing method later became known as Kaga dyeing or national dyeing.