“Peach-boshi” – Making Umeboshi with Peaches? (Part 1) by Cynthia Briscoe
“Peach-boshi” – Making Umeboshi with Peaches? (Part 1)
by Cynthia Briscoe
The peach is my all-time favorite fruit. I’m sure this is the result of childhood memories of climbing the peach tree with my Missouri farm cousin and picking only the ripest, juiciest, red-cheekiest, sun-warm peaches right off the tree. We delighted in the heavenly stickiness dripping from our mouths and down our elbows as it stuck a day’s worth of summer play dirt to our shirts. To even think of picking peaches while still hard and green would never have entered my mind back then. But recently I spied small green peaches lacing the boughs of an abandoned peach tree. Valiantly, the tree had survived neglect and drought and yet still generously offered the kindness of fruit. Undersized from lack of water, at first I thought the small green fruits might be unripe apricots
. But no, the apricots had already come and gone.
I remembered Mr. Muramoto, author of ‘Healing Ourselves’ had creatively substituted apricots, for lack of ume, and created what he called “apri-boshi”. “Hmm…why not try green peaches?” I thought. And so this experiment has begun.
WHOLE GRAINS: Buckwheat Salad Can Reduce Heat. What?
Buckwheat Salad
There’s been a long-standing prejudice toward buckwheat in the macrobiotic teachings. This is unfortunate as buckwheat can be a very nice addition to one’s whole grain repertoire. The macrobiotic view of many over the last 15 years has maintained a stubborn stance that buckwheat will make a person “too yang.” And since so many have developed a fear of being too yang, buckwheat is avoided.
There is also the view that buckwheat is an exclusively cold weather grain since it is a favorite in Russia. “Buckwheat makes you yang and hot!” the macrobiotic counselor admonishes
As a result, it seems to me that the macrobiotic view has been unnecessarily one-dimensional when it comes to buckwheat.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, on the other hand, buckwheat is used to remove excess heat from the body. In Japan cool buckwheat (soba) noodles are used during the hottest and most humid days of the year to reduce heat and excess dampness in the body.
If you’ve ever cooked whole buckwheat, you saw how much faster it absorbs water compared to all other whole grains. It has a water-absorbing nature. This can be useful for anyone who tends to pool excess dampness internally. This excess dampness can make one feel quite miserable on hot and humid days, because the moisture in the body that normally evaporates through the skin can’t, due to the excess moisture in the humid air. Eating some buckwheat or soba noodles can help. I don’t suggest that buckwheat is to be eaten three times daily for weeks on end. Just try it once. If it makes you feel hot, OK, then you won’t want to use it in hot weather. On the other hand, it might help you feel better in hot weather. You have to find out for yourself.
Usually buckwheat dishes served in hot weather are served at room temperature, not hot.
A favorite recipe of mine for a hot weather buckwheat dish is Buckwheat Salad. It is served at room temperature or, if you prefer, slightly chilled.
Buckwheat Salad
Yield: 5 to 5½ cups
3 cups cooked buckwheat groats (pre-cook in
water and sauerkraut juice)
pinch of sea salt
2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 cup steamed, chopped kale or leftover leafy greens
1 cup chopped, drained sauerkraut
½ cup red cabbage, thinly sliced, blanched and sprinkled with
¼ tsp brown rice vinegar to brighten and preserve the color
¼ to ½ cup soy sauce
1 tsp ginger juice
Sauté finely chopped parsley in a very small amount of water. Mix the parsley with the buckwheat. Mix in the steamed, chopped kale and chopped sauerkraut. Mix the soy sauce and ginger juice, pour over the buckwheat salad, and mix in.
Simple Qigong Exercise For Cooling Down
This simple qigong exercise can be done at home
It’s can cool down an over-heated heart on a hot day.
CONDIMENTS: Dandelion Oily Miso
Dandelion Oily Miso
Dandelion Oily Miso
beneficial to the liver and gall bladder, builds red blood cells
4 cups dandelion greens chopped into 1/4 inch piece
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon barley miso
1
Wash dandelion, drain and cut into small pieces. Separate roots and greens if using the whole plant.
2. Warm oil in a heavy skillet.
3. Add dandelion roots first, then greens. Sauté the roots first until golden, then add the chopped greens, cooking until the color turns bright green.
4. Add miso on top of dandelion green. Stir with a spoon or chopstick, breaking up miso into smaller sections until it melts into the dandelion.
5. Shut off flame and place in a small serving bowl.
6. Serve a rounded teaspoon on top of rice cream porridge or other grain.
