Watermelon, Shiso, Plum, and Salt

One hot summer evening, my friend Jason and I decided to stay in the AC and watch Werner Herzog’s documentary about the internet. I had gone to the Japanese grocery store earlier that day and had bought ume shiso salt (a salty, tangy, sour-tart MSG sprinkle made from shiso and plum), and he brought over a whole watermelon. The combination of those two things is simply divine, and we ate the entire melon before the film was over. But if you use fresh plums and shiso, you’ll take the experience up another notch. You can usually find fresh shiso at your local farmers market or Japanese market. It’s not quite basil-y; it’s citrusy, perfumey, and a little bit…savory? The purple variety gives umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) its beautiful pink color, but any variety of shiso will work for this. For a little kick, a bit of togarashi (an incredible Japanese spice mixture) is very special.