Korean Green Plum Pickles
Quick answer
- Total time
- 25 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 6
About this dish
Over 100 days buried in sugar, the hard sourness of unripe green plums softens into a sweet-tart pickle, and plums sinking into dissolved syrup with slowly shriveling flesh show it is on track.
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The liquid left once the plums come out is plum syrup in its own right, sealed and refrigerated separately.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Wash 1000 g green plums under running water, scrubbing the skins with a brush, then remove every stem.
Spread them out until the surface is completely dry, because leftover moisture greatly increases the risk of mold.
- 2
Put some of the dried plums into a sterilized glass jar, then add part of the 700 g sugar.
Repeat in layers so the sugar reaches between the plums, and finish with enough sugar to cover the fruit completely.
- 3
Mix 2 tbsp salt, 2 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp rice wine, and 100 ml water until the salt begins to dissolve.
Pour it slowly around the edge of the jar so the top sugar gets moistened without splashing.
- 4
Seal the jar and keep it in a cool, shaded place.
During the first several days, shake it gently once a day and check that the sugar at the bottom is loosening instead of hardening into a dry block.
- 5
Continue curing for 100 days, gently rolling the jar every 2 to 3 days.
The pickles are developing properly when the plums stay submerged, the sugar has dissolved, and the flesh looks slightly shriveled.
- 6
After 100 days, lift out the plums and transfer them to a clean jar.
Seal the remaining plum syrup and refrigerate it, and serve one or two pickled plums beside rice as a tart side dish.