Salty Plum 101
How are salty plums made?
Salty plums are made by salting fresh plums to draw out their moisture, then drying or brining them until firm and intensely flavoured. Producers then add sugar, licorice, herbs, acids and colour. The process is simple in principle and endlessly variable in practice, which is why no two styles taste the same.
The core idea
Salt does two jobs. It draws water out of the fruit, which makes the flesh dense and chewy, and it creates an environment where spoilage organisms struggle. Long before fridges, that combination let a soft summer fruit last for months.
Everything after the salt is about flavour and identity: how sweet, how sour, how red, how herbal, how soft. Read our ingredients guide if you want to decode the label.
The process, step by step
1. Harvest and sort
Plums are picked firm and slightly underripe so they survive the process. Damaged fruit is removed before it can spoil a batch.
2. Salting
The fruit is layered or soaked with salt. Over hours to days, brine is drawn out of the plums and the flesh tightens.
3. Drying or brining
Some styles are sun-dried until leathery. Others stay in brine, or move between brine and air. This step decides whether the final plum is dry, sticky or soft.
4. Flavouring
Sugar, licorice, herbs, spices, citric or malic acid and sometimes sweeteners are worked into the fruit. This is where a plum becomes sweet, smoky, herbal or mouth-puckeringly sour.
5. Colouring
Red styles get their colour from food colouring, either in a dye bath or a coating. Uncoloured plums stay brown to near-black. We break this down in why salty plums are red.
6. Finishing and packing
A final dusting of powder — salt, sugar, acid or preservative — keeps pieces from sticking and adds tang. The plums are then sealed, often in resealable pouches or tubs.
How the styles differ
| Style | Key process difference | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Darwin red salty plum | Salted, dried, then dyed and sweetened | Firm, scarlet, sweet-sour |
| White salty plum | Little or no added colour, light sugar | Pale, tangy, fruit-forward |
| Li hing mui | Dried plum plus li hing powder coating | Tangy, sweet, powdery |
| Hua mei | Longer drying, herbal and smoky flavouring | Deep, savoury, complex |
| Umeboshi | Salt-fermented ume, sun-dried | Very sour, very salty, wrinkled |
Frequently asked
Are salty plums fermented?+
Some are. Umeboshi in particular relies on fermentation as well as salting. Many Chinese and Hawaiian styles are primarily salt-cured and dried rather than fermented.
Why are some soft and some hard?+
Drying time and the amount of sugar or syrup decide texture. Soft, syrupy plums are less dried; firm, chewy plums have given up more water.
Does the stone stay in?+
Often, yes. Traditional whole plums are preserved stone-in. Seedless versions are pitted first, which makes them softer and easier to use in drinks and sauces.