umen.

1822 F. Shoberl tr. I. Titsingh Illustr. Japan 153 When I was reduced to poverty I gave them to my friends, with the exception of these three, which I most valued, (they were an oume or plum-tree [Fr. un oume, ou prunier], a sakoura, or cherry, and a mats, or fir-tree).

1854 Horticulturist 4 467 The first account we have of this Eastern fruit is to be found in Kæmpfer, who calls it Bai, or Umé, and Umé bos. He calls it a wild spiny Plum with a large fruit.

1881 G. A. Audsley & J. L. Bowes Keramic Art Japan (rev. ed.) Introd. 32 In art, the ume is usually represented as a tree of peculiarly angular and spiky habit.

1912 I. Nitobé Japanese Nation ii. 39 The fruit of the umé has an economic value, for it is not only edible in itself, but makes the juice with which our best silk is dyed red.

1950 R. Okada tr. N. Kobayashi Bonsai 142 Time was when old, stunted ume trees were found growing wild on rocky hills.

1990 Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo) (Nexis) 16 Feb. 7 The ‘elder brother of the cherry blossom’, ume presents the first blossoms of the year, at a time when other flowers are still hiding from the bite of late winter.

2010 Y. Wang et al. Anc. Wisdom, Mod. Kitchen 57/2 Umeboshi is a pickled fruit of the ume tree (Prunus mume), which is native to China and later spread to Korea and Japan.

1918 K. Morimoto Standard of Living in Japan v. 45 (table) Consumption of Fruits... Kinds... Plums (ume).

1924 F. Starr Fujiyama xii. 134 Food materials brought up here from below, all lose their flavor, except ume (plums).

1952 Nippon Times 19 June 6/5 Japanese ume is seldom eaten raw as it is not as sweet as foreign kinds.

2000 R. Hosking At Japanese Table iii. 25 Many families make their own apricot liqueur by macerating ume in spirits with sugar.

1906 Treasury Decisions under Customs & Other Laws (U.S. Dept. Treasury) 10 731 When the ume fruit is yet unripe, it is gathered, washed in water, and exposed for a short time to the sun to soften.

1934 Japan Times & Mail 25 June 5/5 Green ume fruits are now almost ready for gathering.

2008 U. McGovern Lost Crafts (2009) 154 Different pickles have developed in different parts of the world [including]..Japanese umeboshi, pickled ume fruit (related to apricots).

1982 Oriental Economist Feb. 64/3 After jogging, he drinks two cups of ground green tea and two pickled ume plums.

1994 Evening Standard (Nexis) 7 Jan. 30 Ume plums (which are closer to apricots than the plums known in the West) undergo an extensive rite of passage before becoming umeboshi.

2010 T. Sawada & K. Kubota in R. R. Watson & V. R. Preedy Bioactive Foods & Extracts ii. 31 Because fresh ume plums have a high cyanide content, they cannot be eaten directly, and instead the fruit have been traditionally pickled.