Rice Ball Heaven: Umeboshi Onigiri

One great thing about Japan is the vast amount of great snack food you can buy at any convenience store. For some, the ubiquitous rice ball or onigiri おにぎり, might be an important part of a meal when they don't have time to prepare it at home and sometimes, it is simply a wonderful snack.

The other day, while heading to a local park to catch up on some reading, I stopped by my local Family Mart convenience store and picked up my favorite rice ball. Rice balls or onigiri, come in a wide variety of flavors. You can have them with beef, fish eggs, salmon, tuna, etc. My favorite is made with shiso and umeboshi. Umeboshi 梅干 i is a sour tasting plum. These wonderful rice snacks cost only 100 yen which is about one dollar Canadian.

Here you can see the plum rice ball (onigiri) before I open it.


The purple chunks are the umeboshi or sour plum. They are very juicy and crunchy. They literally explode with flavor when you bite into them.


The smaller black spots are shiso which is also known as perilla. It also has a very strong and distinct flavor.

I don't think this particular onigiri would be for everyone, but I simply can't get enough of it. Just another small and wonderfully fresh snack you can buy at any time in Japan!