GOBO, Wakayama -- Farmers have begun the process of drying salted ume Japanese apricot under sun in Minabe, Wakayama Prefecture, the largest ume production area in Japan.
The process will be at its peak in mid-August and continue until the end of the year.
Munetaka Iguchi, 61, who chiefly cultivates the top-quality Nanko-ume variety at his four-hectare fields, began the sun-drying process July 19, which was an atypically fine day within the rainy season. He laid out ume that had been salted for more than three weeks in baskets within a greenhouse and would let them dry for three to four days.
Once the ume are turned over and dried well, the yellowish fruit turn red, wrinkled and become umeboshi pickled ume.
"We had a bad harvest this year, but we were able to produce large and high-quality fruit with few bruises. I hope that people will eat them to help them get through the intense heat," Iguchi said.
About 1,300 farmers cultivate ume from 2,170 hectares in the town. According to JA Kishu, a local agricultural cooperative, this year's shipment of the green ume used for making wine and juice, stood at 1,335 tons -- just over 60% of the last year's total -- due to a combination of conditions, such as a mild winter and little rain.
As green ume's shipment was the lowest since 1989, when data remained available, that of umeboshi, which is made from ripe ume, is also expected to fall sharply.
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