Some recipes are so good, you just have to share. Ever since office-mate Doug Brown offered these salty, tangy snacks, we’ve been raiding his cubicle for more “ume nuts.”
His wife, Anne Brown, makes them from a recipe she got in a class at the School of Natural Cookery in Boulder. “One of the nice things about roasting nuts with ume is that you don’t have to use any additional oil,” says Anne. “Using ume on cashews, roasted in the same manner, is also wonderful.”
Ume, or umeboshi vinegar is not actually a vinegar, but a byproduct of the Japanese plum-pickling process. The pink brine smells of cherries and has a citrusy flavor. It can be substituted for vinegar and salt in any recipe, and used in salad dressings and on vegetables. Look for Ume Plum Vinegar at Whole Foods and Wild Oats.
Pepitas, pumpkin seeds, are an excellent source of iron and a good source of zinc.
– Kristen Browning-Blas
Ume Nuts
Ingredients
1 cup raw pepitas (not roasted and salted)
1 tablespoon umeboshi vinegar
Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Layer the nuts in a small ovenproof pan. (Anne uses an 8-by-8-inch pan). Place on middle rack in oven and cook for 25 minutes. After 15 minutes, check the nuts every 5 minutes and give them a good stir.
Remove nuts from the oven and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of umeboshi over them and stir to coat. Let them sit in the pan they roasted in until cool.
