Minabe Bairin in Minabe Town is Japan's largest plum grove and every year when it is the plum blossom season local farmers kindly open their orchards to the public (in 2018 it will be from January 27 to March 4).

The plum blossoms paint the mountain villages in white in early spring and charm visitors with their neat and tidy appearance and sweet fragrance.

But Minabe Town has more to offer than just plum blossom viewing. In this plum-growing area you can also find many gourmet dishes and sweets made with plums. If you visit Minabe Town it would be a shame not to sample the gourmet dishes found here.

So in this article we will introduce some spots in Minabe Town offering plum gourmet treats. Without further ado, let’s begin!

The first place we will visit is the Tanabe Shop of the Artisanal Bakery KAWA located about a 20-minute drive from the Minabe Bairin. The Artisanal Bakery KAWA is a bakery with locations mostly in Wakayama. Loved by local residents, this shop is always packed with happy customers.

Inside a large selection of all types of bread line the shelves. Just walking among them is exciting.

Several types of bread caught my eye, but there was one in particular I liked!

Marugoto means "complete, the whole thing" and this burger consists of a juicy chicken cutlet made from Kishu chicken topped with a Kishu honey Nankobai plum on top of a green shiso leaf and tomato served in a multi-grain bun.

Two sauces are used: one is a secret dark sauce having a Worcestershire sauce base mixed with chopped plum and the other is a tartar sauce mixed with chopped plum pickles; the whole burger being a condensed composition of Wakayama delicious flavors.

Of course, take out is also possible, though there is a space provided for eating in the shop.

Freshly made and ready to be eaten! There are　comfortable seats on the terrace as well as at the counter, so you have your choice of places to sit.

This is what the inside looks like. There is a whole lot of food here! The tomato and plum give the thick chicken cutlet added flavor. At first bite I thought the plum flavor was a bit light, but after a bit, the full flavor really hit me!
Very refreshing!

The Marugoto!? Kishu Umeburger is the result of a collaborative effort made with local poultry farmers who raise the Kishu Umedori brand of free-range chickens and plum processors. The final result is this burger served in the shop.

The sweet and sour accent of the plum goes really well with the chicken and buns; whoever thought up this combination deserves a standing ovation. Even when the chicken cutlet is cold it is not greasy, but has a nice, crisp texture.

The healthy buns, made with 8 kinds of grains, goes really well with the plumb, shiso, and chicken further adding to its popularity with the ladies.

The shop also serves delicious drip coffee, tea, and soft drinks, so this is a good place to take a break during your trip. You definitely will want to try the Marugoto!? Kishu Umeburger when you visit Minabe, so be sure to stop by this shop.

After the knock-out delicious Marugoto!? Kishu Umeburger, we next headed to the Katsura-do near JR Minabe Station, the closest station to Minabe Bairin.

This is a long-established Japanese confectionery in Minabe Town with a history of about 100 hundred years.

Originally it only sold Japanese confections but Western sweets began to be made by the previous generation and today the grandmother makes Japanese-style sweets while the proprietor makes the Western-style sweets.

The shop is full of plum sweets of all sorts. We asked the proprietor’s wife to give us some recommendations.

This was the first recommendation. This sweet was jointly developed with Gekko Noen [literally "farm facing the moon"], a Japanese plum farm in Minabe, and uses soft, ripened Nanko plums that have been soaked in plum wine.

The pit is removed from the plum, and plum jelly added to custard cream, to give it a hint of flavor, is inserted in the plum which is then wrapped up together with white bean jam and Turkish delight. The faintly bluish-green color of the Turkish delight is exquisite.

Normally one would not associate custard cream with a Japanese confection, but it goes remarkably well with the flavor of the plum. I have had many other types of daifuku [soft rice cake stuffed with sweetened bean jam], such as strawberry and other fruits, but this beats them all. The taste reminded me of an expensive apricot liqueur.

According to Mr. Takuya Katsura, the third-generation owner, when it comes to trying to use Minabe Konan plums in confections, getting the right mixture of sweet and bitter flavors is very difficult, so it took a lot of trial and error before he got it right. It was by using plums that had been soaked in plum wine together with the custard that he was able to come up with the right balance.

Next was a yokan into which an abundant amount of homemade dried Nanko plums were kneaded. You can even see chunks of plum in the center of the pretty scarlet!

The soft sweetness and elegant plum flavor spread through the mouth with each bite. For those who like Japanese confectionery and those who normally don’t eat yokan, I recommend this one because it is not overly sweet.

This is not a Japanese plum treat, but it is one of the main products of Katsura-do. Imo mochi is a regional confection; sweet potato inside rice cake. The inside is filled with homemade bean jam and the outside is dusted with roasted soybean flour made from domestic soybeans.

It has long been a custom in this area for people who come to view the plum blossoms to buy Imo mochi as a souvenir gift.

And there are still more. These simple grilled by hand rice crackers have been enjoyed by everyone since childhood. They have a flavor one never tires of and when served with tea it is hard to stop eating them so you end up eating many.

The picture of a Japanese plum blossom impressed on it with a hot iron stamp is very cute. Powdered plum has been kneaded into them, so there is a fragrance of plum coming with each bite.

Here are some other new products that were created after the Plum Wine Daifuku was created. Ro Akane is a new type of plum that was developed in this area. This is a new variety noted for its tart flavor and born from the belief that "plums can be used in more ways than just making umeboshi [salted plums].”

This pastry is made by rolling a jam made from that Ro Akane mixed with pure cream in a fluffy sheet of cake. The butter, margarine, and pure cream flavor are prominent and nostalgically reminded me of the butter cream cookies I ate long ago. The tartness of this plum jam gives it originality.

Katsura-do is a Japanese confectionery with a long history in the area and a plum gourmet spot providing many unique plum confections. When you have the chance, try some of them and see which ones you like best.

Next, we moved on to the JA Kishu Hommamon Furusato Direct Sales Shop, about a 3-minute drive from Hanwa Expressway Minabe IC.

This store is operated by JA Kishu at a roadside station.

Regional specialties in addition to various plum products are sold here. The previously mentioned Katsura-do confections are also available here.

It carries a large selection of salted plums including some brands new even to Japanese. Simply put: the store has a rich variety of products on display. It also sells lots of locally grown vegetables.

This was especially recommended.

This product is especially being promoted. What is tomato and plum exactly?

Very innovative!! You probably are wondering what it tastes like.

One taste and you will definitely find it tasty! And the sweetness of the tomato goes perfectly with the plums!
This is a whole new kind of dessert that blends the tart flavor of the plums with the sweetness of the tomato.

It is sweet and refreshingly fruity! It tastes more like a new type of fruit rather than plum. This was the first time for me to experience plum and tomato. And it was delicious.

Tomato-Ume was developed under the direction of JA Kishu and is a new type of salted plum. In the past, it was thought that umeboshi [salted plums] had limited usage because of its strong salt content. That is when someone came up with the idea of soaking them in the region’s high-sugar content Yutosei tomatoes. The result is a sweet and flavorful dessert called Tomato-Ume. It was a successful combination of two famous local products.

Tomato-Ume paste and Tomato-Ume Dare can be used in a number of different ways, such as a seasoning for dressing and pasta, fried food, hiyayakko [cold tofu], pizza, and takoyaki [octopus balls], and new original products constantly being developed and introduced.

JA Kishu Hommamon Direct Sales Shop also carries a large selection of other Wakayama gourmet items other than those already mentioned.

In addition to plum related products, such as plum wine, there are also high-sugar content tomatoes such as the Yutosei, Akatonbo, and Otohime varieties and many other naturally grown products for which the region is famous. This is a great place for getting souvenirs from your trip.

Last of all we visited Takasago Foods, a noodle factory in the town that we heard about that uses Nanko Plums in its noodles.

Takasago Foods is close to Minabe Bairin.

It looks like any other office building, but over its entrance is a shop curtain reading Takasago Shokudo [dining hall].

Going inside I thought I had mistakenly entered the factory. But going about five meters forward, the dining hall was on the left. Let’s push forward without hesitation!

The plum gourmet dish offered here is an unusual type of ramen.

The Carbonara-style Ramen has an Italian feel about it. At first glance it looks more like a pasta than ramen.

Boiled noodles are placed in a soup made with plain hot water (paitan) that has been thickened with a bean paste made with starch and this is then topped with tomato and bacon after which a sauce made from fried chopped Nanko plums is added followed by grated cheese and olive oil.

Fresh, Chinese-style noodles made in the factory are used.
The tartness of the plum and tomato dissolves in the creamy paitan soup and is so delicious it could be habit forming!

Once again the compatibility of plum and tomato was evident. This is a Western-style ramen found only here in Minabe Town famous for its plum orchards!

This is another plum gourmet dish offered here. It is a simple dish of ramen in a paitan soup topped with a single, large Nanko Plum. As with the Carbonara-style Ramen, the Chinese-style noodles are made here in the factory.

Break the salted plum up little by little with chopsticks and eat it together with the noodles. This is a gentle-tasting ramen with a deep flavor that will certainly perk you up if you are feeling run down. The soup is not made with miso or soy sauce, but instead plain hot water which is a good choice.

Mrs. Morishita says that the dining hall got its start because many of the people who toured the factory said that they would like to taste the noodles, so she just naturally began preparing dishes.

Living in Minabe Town she got the idea first for Plum Ramen and then Carbonara-style Ramen because she wanted to find a way to use Japanese plums.

And everything on the menu is inexpensive! This dining hall for employees is really a bargain. Visitors, such as us, are also grateful for the opportunity to be able to eat here. Others who work in this area often come here for lunch, so there are other dishes on the menu aside from ramen such as rice omelets and Tonpeiyaki [flat-shaped pork crepe with sauce and mayonnaise].

This noodle factory has a comfy at-home feel loved by locals and those who know it and is a Wakayama plum gourmet spot off the beaten track. This is one place you should try to visit for plum dishes unlike any others.

How did you like it? We hope you will visit these Japanese plum gourmet spots if you visit Minabe Town. Wakayama in early spring, with its plum blossom viewing and plum gourmet dishes, has many attractions awaiting you.