Maesil-jangajji (Pickled Green Plum)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •1.5 liter clean glass jar with tight lid
• •Small sharp paring knife
• •Skewer or toothpick for removing stems
• •Kitchen scale
• •Food-safe fermentation weight or small clean weight

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the plums

   Use hard, green maesil with tight skin and no bruises. This is not a recipe for ripe soft plums. Soft fruit collapses in the jar and gives you syrup, not jangajji. Wash them, drain them well, and spread them on a towel until every surface is dry.

2. 2

   Remove the stems

   Pick out the little stem nub from each plum with a skewer or the tip of a small knife. Do not skip this. The stem area holds grit and bitterness, and once the fruit is cured you cannot repair that taste.

3. 3

   Cut from the stone

   Stand each plum on its side and cut the flesh off the stone in 4 to 6 thick petals. The stone clings hard, so use a steady paring knife and cut away from your hand. This knife work is the dish. Whole plums cure unevenly and the seed should not sit in the pickle; remove it before salting.

4. 4

   Salt briefly

   Toss the cut plum flesh with 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt and rest 30 minutes. The salt pulls out the first harsh bitterness and tightens the flesh so the finished pickle stays crisp. Drain off the liquid and blot the plum pieces dry. Do not rinse, or you wash away the measured salt.

5. 5

   Layer with sugar

   Put a thin layer of sugar in the bottom of a clean glass jar, then alternate plum pieces and sugar, using 800 g sugar total for this first packing. Finish with a heavy cap of sugar on top. The fruit must be covered because sugar is the preservative here, not decoration.

6. 6

   Start the cure

   Cover the jar and keep it at cool room temperature for 2 days, turning the jar gently once a day to wet the sugar. Do not jab or mash the fruit. When syrup gathers and the sugar begins to dissolve, move the jar to the refrigerator or a very cool pantry.

7. 7

   Top the sugar

   After 5 to 7 days, add the remaining 100 g sugar over the top if any plum pieces are floating above the syrup. Press a small clean weight or a piece of food-safe parchment directly over the fruit to keep it submerged. Air is where mold begins.

8. 8

   Cure until crisp

   Let the maesil cure 2 weeks for a bright, sharp pickle, or 4 weeks for a rounder one. Taste one piece after 14 days. It should be crisp under the teeth, sweet first, sour after, with a faint almond-like bitterness that reminds you it came from green fruit.

9. 9

   Store and serve

   Keep the plum pieces submerged in their syrup in the refrigerator. Serve them plain as a banchan (side dish), chopped beside grilled pork, or mix only the portion you will eat with gochujang, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Seasoned maesil-jangajji is good, but the plain cure lets the fruit taste like itself.

Chef Tips

• •Wear thin kitchen gloves if you have sensitive hands. Green maesil is very sour, and cutting a kilogram of it will find every small nick on your fingers.
• •Do not reduce the sugar below 80 percent of the fruit's weight for storage. Less sugar can work for a quick pickle, but not for a jar you expect to keep clean for months.
• •If you want the red seasoned version, mix 1 cup drained cured plums with 1 tablespoon gochujang, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds just before serving. Season only what you will eat within a week.
• •Discard the pits. Maesil seeds contain amygdalin, and this recipe removes them before curing. The fruit flesh, properly cured and stored cold, is what you keep.

Advance Preparation

• •Maesil-jangajji needs at least 2 weeks before serving and improves through 4 weeks. Once cured, keep it refrigerated and submerged in syrup for up to 6 months.
• •The fruit can be washed and dried the night before cutting. Spread it in a single layer on a towel so no moisture remains before it goes into the jar.
• •The syrup left in the jar is useful. Spoon a little into cold water as a drink, or use it sparingly in cho-gochujang (vinegared chili sauce) when you want sweetness and fruit acidity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 35g)