I love her, yes! My mum sent me a container full of her hand-made pickled plums; the plums were taken from a tree my grandparents planted long ago.

“This year didn’t turn out so well” she said, but they taste just perfect.

In order to get my new nanny job, the family who I’d previously nannied for had to be my reference on a telephone interview. I called the (former) mother and politely asked “please pretend I was an angel, I’ve even got 2 scars on my back” and she agreed, under one condition: that I get her a box of my mum’s pickled plums.

So it’s here! Some of the umeboshi are going to a friend, and another hand-full to my new family. The power of taste buds!