Ingredients in rice balls sold at convenience stores.

Pickled plums are the most orthodox and major ingredients used for rice balls. The Kanji description '紀州' on the package of a rice ball in this photograph means the pickled plums contained were produced in Kishu district. Kishu was the old name of Wakayama prefecture and Wakayama is famous for nice plum production. As the youngster’s tastes tend to be oriented for meat ingredients today, the rice balls containing pickled plums seem to be becoming less popular. Mixture with perilla leaves also is a popular ingredient for rice balls. Mixing with other vegetables may be an interesting trial for the development of new ingredients, because new kinds of vegetable ingredients are required for busy persons who have to take enough nutrients in vegetables even by a hurried meal of rice balls. The price of rice ball in the photo is 105 yen. The Hiragana expression 'ねり' in center below of the seal means that contained pickled plums were knead. You can also find not-knead type pickled plums from which the seed was not removed.