For breakfast this morning, I had an ume, Japanese plum, in a cup of hot water. The ume jar had a lot of shiso leaves marinating with the ume so I had a few leaves in the cup as well. The ume is salty and sour to varying degrees, it all depends on the quality and kind of ume you buy. This is a big subject in Japan, an ume is not just an ume------just like konbu, katsuobushi, sake, mirin, rice vinegar, sake and all the Japanese ingredients, there are different prices that go with the different levels of quality. The cheapest ones will be because the fruit was the most inferior, maybe the second best, or really unripe, and therefore, the most salty and very sour. It could be that they quickened the process and it's not well-aged and naturally matured. Sometimes, they use a special fruit from a special area and the treatment was done in a special way, these will be the most expensive. Anyway, the resulting water inspired me, making me wonder what I could possibly use this for-----------coming soon---------you find inspiration in the simplest forms, all you have to do is look for it.