It's a Japanese liquor, often called 'Plum Wine', made from a specific, tart cultivar of plum from Japan.
It's a perfect balance of sweetness and alcohol and is brilliantly refreshing on a hot summer evening.
I have been wanting to make this for several years, but always miss the window to buy the plums here in California. However, this year, the stars aligned and I was able to snag them at a local Japanese market. Typically, these are only available in late April, early May.
(Note, if you're in So-Cal and looking for them, I think they're all sold out - sorry!)
I picked up all of the ingredients at Mitsuwa, but I've heard you can get most of them on Amazon if there are no Japanese grocery stores near you.
I'll show you how I made it and follow up in 1 year after it has steeped long enough.
1 mason jar or similar
500 g green Japanese plums (unripe ume) (17.64 oz)
900 ml shochu, or any other clear, tasteless liquor. Must be 35% ABV (3.8 cups)
250g rock sugar (8.82 oz)
Very important! Make sure to rinse thoroughly to get the soap out, too.
Use a knife point or something sharp to remove the brown stems. It will make the umeshu taste better
(I realized my Jar was way too big at this point, but I had to go through with it lol)
Make sure to submerge all of the plums. I had to shake the jar a few times after this picture was taken to get them just right.
Put the jar in a cool, dark place and let the shochu do its thing. You will need to wait at least 6 months to get a good flavor, but I've heard a year will be optimum. Generally, the longer you wait, the sweeter the drink.
Feel free to ask questions, too.
